Gills
by KAGUYA-hime0706
Summary: What if our resident blond cook had some rather...fishy features? part-fishman!Sanji, inspired by the lovely art by maplebars as you can plainly see from the amazing cover image.
1. Chapter 1

**Guess which mother-f-er decided to start another fanfic instead of finishing the other ones first?**

 **…**

 **This mother-f-er, that's who.**

 **...**

 ***cough* moving on. This fic is inspired by the lovely maplebars art! I suggest you check it out on tumblr!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my two hands to type this.**

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Sanji scratched irritably at the collar of his suit. It was abnormally hot today and it was just the right temperature for it to be incredibly uncomfortable to wear anything that has long sleeves or collars. Or black. Sanji sighed through his nose. He felt like he was slowly dying of heatstroke and he's starting to feel the beginnings of a rash that's probably going to spread. Sanji winced as one of his movements agitated his neck. Yep, definitely going to spread. Lovely.

Sanji screamed internally, glaring at the wall quite harshly because he needed to blame something for his misery. Seriously, if the world wasn't filled with judgemental assholes he wouldn't have this problem. But the world is filled with judgemental assholes. So he does have this problem. Shhh let him be petty.

"Sanji! Stop slacking off and get your lazy ass back to work!" A sudden scream snapped Sanji out of his thoughts. He re-aimed his glare to the cook who screamed at him and flipped the cook off before returning his attention back to the current seafood dish he was working on. That was spicy. With the fire was slowly licking at his skin. The next step was to flambé it. And he was done with this shit.

He quickly finished off the dish and turned the stove to low so it would be ready for the next person to use and washed his hands. As he passed the man who he considered a father he quickly made some hand gestures to the older man.

' _I'm taking a break. I'm going to take a dip in the ocean.'_ All he got was a nod in reply and Sanji let out a slight breath of relief. He was not in the mood to argue with the old man in this heat.

Sanji quickly went to his room and changed into his swimming trunks and sun shirt, applying a bit of ointment onto his rash and dove into the cool water the moment he reached the deck of the Baratie.

Sanji sighed happily as he felt the cool water wash away the sweat he had been building for the whole day, as he opened his eyes and swam through the reef, occasionally biting playfully at some fish with his sharp teeth. His sharp shark teeth.

Sanji looked around the ocean with his strange round black eyes with a slight blue tinge that were definitely not human. He grinned toothily as he lazily swam in the blue water. It was only when he was by himself and in the water when he was completely himself and relaxed. No one staring at him like he was a monster, no one looking at him like he was no better than the dirt they walk on, just him and the ocean.

Being a half-breed means having shit thrown at you every day. Especially when your half-breed is half human and half fishman, with the one of the races thinking they're more superior then the other. Having of the blood of both races seems to be hard for others to swallow so basically Sanji's whole existence fucks with people. Neither human nor fishman. Or able to fit in.

Sanji frowned slightly, mood souring, before shaking himself of the depressing thoughts and continued swimming. It didn't take long for him to be completely relaxed again.

Sanji started moving his tongue around, checking for any loose teeth, spitting out the ones that had fallen out after a little bit of probing, the teeth slowly sinking to the ocean floor. That's one problem with being a shark. Constantly loosing teeth was annoying, but at least it grows back fast enough that it won't bother his meals. Well, at least it won't bother him, can't say the same for his meal.

A sudden movement caught his eye and he turned around face to face with a Seaking. Sanji stared blandly at the creature. It looked like a mutant of a cow, a fish and a sea lion and so far, according to Sanji, despite its efforts to look menacing, was failing miserably in the scary department. It actually looked kinda cute; it almost made him feel bad to hurt the creature. Almost.

All it took was one hard kick to the skull before the creature got the message, swimming away and crying pitifully, leaving Sanji alone again. He decided to check how far away he swam from the Baratie this time and surfaced again, making sure to close his gills and switch to lungs. His head bobbed up and down with the waves and Sanji realised he may have swum further than expected, as the floating restaurant was nowhere in sight.

 _Ah, this is bad. Old fart's gonna be mad._ Sanji scratched his head and was about to dive back under the water when he realised he wasn't that far away from an island.

Sanji stared. It definitely seemed like an interesting one, if that's to put it kindly. He saw a massive temple with large metal gates not on the island but actually in the sea. To top it off there was even a wall surrounding it. On the temple were the words Arlong Park.

 _Well someone sure is full of themselves._ Sanji thought sizing up the whole estate, unimpressed. _I will never understand why people think that it's necessary to have a whole buildings and islands named after them. Who do they think they are? God?... Apparently so._

Sanji rolled his eyes and was about to dip back under the surface of the ocean when he heard a deep gravelly voice that made the hair on the back of his neck stand.

"Going out again Nami?"

"Of course, don't think I forgot our deal, Arlong." Came a female voice this time. She has a light and sweet voice but it had cold undertone that made Sanji frown. Something's not right with her, human or fishman(woman?) a lady's a lady and Sanji's natural instinct to help her rose up.

Curiosity getting the better of him he swam towards the brick wall surrounding the 'park' and dipped back underwater. He looked around for any gaps in the wall and found none. He shrugged and kicked a giant hole into the wall and swam across to the other side. Immediately he came face to face with several fishmen, who stared at him shock for a moment before their eyes hardened and each drew out a nasty looking cutlass.

 _Shit._ Sanji thought dryly. Approximately 5 minutes later all fishmen were lying unconscious on the ocean floor. Sanji only stared at them blankly, floating only slightly above the unconscious and sighed disappointedly. _Geez, I was expecting them to be stronger. That was boring._

Back to the original task, Sanji swam up towards the surface and silently raised half of his face out of the water. He looked up at the raised platform out of the ocean and saw the back of young human woman with short, mikan coloured hair. She was wearing a white shirt with blue stripes and a short orange skirt with ring patterns decorating the sides. Her body was hiding whoever she was talking to so unless Sanji wanted to risk getting caught he had to stay low. He'll make do with a grey blob for the other voice.

"Our deal, of course. How could I forget? To buy your village back no matter how long it takes you." A different voice spoke and seemed to be leering. The girl… Nami was it? At least that what he heard, visibly tensed.

"And you intend to keep it, won't you Arlong?" Nami clipped out.

Sanji frowned. _Arlong? Where have I heard that name before…?_

"Why yes, I would never break a deal about money." By then Sanji learned the leery tone was just the default voice of this 'Arlong' and Sanji did not like it. It set his teeth on edge. A grey blob that was misshapen and ugly suited this voice perfectly, Sanji concluded.

"Hmph." Was all he had as a warning to duck back under water when Nami suddenly turned around. Had he been any slower he would have been right in the line of sight of the mikan-haired girl. _That was close._

Sanji looked down at the defeated fishmen and decided it was probably best to leave before someone finds him. He swam out of his self-made hole and swam around to the other side of the island. He broke the surface of the ocean after what he believed was a safe distance away and sighed. _Well that was interesting… and also taking up way too much time I need to get back to the Baratie now._

As he was about to dive back under the surface he heard a gasp behind him. Sanji froze and slowly turned around. Staring at straight at him or more specifically, his gills, was the mikan-haired girl, Nami. She was staring at him with wide eyes, freezing halfway through her packing for her next voyage. Sanji could only stare back and sheepishly waved in hello.

To say Nami was surprised was an understatement. At first when she heard the splash she thought it was just another fishman to harass her but when she actually looked up she saw a human man. Well at least human until she took a closer inspection. The human man had gills. Humans weren't supposed to have gills. But he wasn't a fishman, that much Nami was sure about. Neither human or fishman so…what was he?

 _I should have worn something that covered up more._ Sanji thought, slightly panicking as Nami continued to stare. _What should I do? She's been quiet for a while… maybe I should swim away before she says anything._

Nami snapped out of her stupor when she noticed the blond haired…man? Began to slip under the surface.

"Ah wait!" Nami called out right before Sanji completely slipped away. "Who are you?"

Sanji froze and slowly emerged from the water again _. Shit. Well great, I can't ignore her now, she's a lady, it would be rude to leave while she's trying to talk to me. Wait, oh yeah that's right, I can't talk, not unless I want to scare the living daylights out of her, which I don't._

As Sanji was deciding what's his best course of action Nami began to observe him more closely now that she calmed down after her initial shock. He looked nothing like the fishmen in the Arlong Pirates. While even the smallest member of Arlong Pirates was remotely taller than most average sized humans, the strange fish-man was most definitely the height of a man. He was frowning slightly, with his head slightly cocked like he was thinking really hard about something. _Well he doesn't seem dangerous._ Nami thought.

He was only wearing swimming trunks with a loose short-sleeved shirt, exposing a fair amount of skin that was pale. Extremely pale, it looked downright inhuman and unhealthy but… despite that, he had a strong build and Nami can obviously see the defined muscles on the lean body that suggested anything but weak. He looked human but some features obviously…weren't. He had strange curly eyebrows but they were the most normal out of all the strange features Nami could see. His eyes, for instance; while were the size of normal human eyes, rarely blinked and the pupils were huge, with only a thin circle of bright blue encircling it. His ears were slightly pointed and had a slight grey tone at the ends. When blonde fish person lifted his hands out of the water Nami could see a small amount of webbing between his fingers. Then he started doing weird gestures with his hands and Nami could only stare back in confusion. _Huh?_

Sanji decided to check if the girl, Nami, knew sign language. And judging by the confused look on her face probably meant she had no idea what the hell he was doing and is starting to think there is a very high chance that Sanji was a lunatic. Sanji sunk half his face in the ocean and released a breath of exasperation, the air escaping into little bubbles that gurgled the moment it reached the surface.

When the strange fish-man began gurgling underwater Nami stared. _Is he alright?_ Nami sweat dropped. _Weird._

It could be the annoyed look on his face or the fact he was doing such a childish action but Nami started to giggle. Soon she was laughing the most she had in years, whether it was because of so many years spent in solitude and misery had finally cracked her or some other deranged reason she didn't care. She just threw her head back and laughed.

Sanji only stared up at her in surprise. Normally when people catch a glimpse of his other unhuman features they would either recoil in disgust or scream in fear. To see this girl laughing… it felt refreshing. Soon Sanji found himself smiling as well and now both were laughing for no apparent reason, one was clutching her stomach on a small dingy little boat while the other was floating in his swimwear, trying hard not to accidently choke on seawater. After several minutes of laughing for no apparent reason, Nami finally calmed down and wiped away her tears of mirth, before looking down back at the fish-man in the water still smiling.

"So I'm guessing you can't speak?" Nami asked. The fish-man gave a shrug and did a so-so gesture with his hand.

"…You don't want to speak?" Nami guessed. Sanji gave a thumbs up in confirmation. "Why?"

Sanji frowned and attempted to act out what he wanted to say. Nami tried to interpret what he was trying to tell her but in the end she shook her head. "This is ridiculous, I'll go get a pen and paper."

Sanji only smiled in relief that he didn't have to do a bad game of charades.

* * *

"So, first let's introduce ourselves." Nami gestured to herself. "I'm Nami. I am a thief who only steals from pirates."

Sanji raised an eyebrow in interest at the peculiar introduction. He began scribbling on the notepad that Nami had gotten him, leaning against the side of the boat with his arms dangling on the other side of the railing.

 _-I'm Sanji, first-rate cook of the sea. It is a pleasure to meet a lovely lady as you Miss Nami.-_

"Ho~ bit of a lady charmer, aren't you?" Nami smiled when Sanji gently took one her hands and placed a chaste kiss on the back. "Nice to meet you too, Sanji-kun."

Sanji blinked slightly at the honorific in surprise but smiled brightly. It made Nami wonder how the blonde man was being treated usually if hearing an honorific added to his name made him this happy.

"So…you going to tell me why you refuse to speak?" Nami decided to prod. Sanji immediately lost the smile and gained a troubled expression. He quickly scribbled again.

 _-People tend to be rather startled when I talk.-_

"Why?" Nami inquired after skimming through the neat print.

 _-As you can tell, I'm not entirely human and some people find my unhuman features unpleasant and that's putting it nicely. One in particular is rather disturbing for them.-_

"Can you show me? I promise I won't over react." Nami promised. "I'm a girl of my word."

Sanji hesitated and quickly wrote something down.

 _-Are you sure?-_

"How bad could it be? You have gills and rather strange ears and eyes. People might find it strange but I don't see how that can scare-ok never mind." Nami cut herself off when Sanji parted his mouth slightly, his rows of sharp deadly teeth on display. "I see why now."

Sanji grimly shut his mouth and nodded in agreement. He was surprised through; he was expecting the girl to jump back in shock but all she did was widen her eyes slightly. Then again judging by the temple she just came from she's probably used to sharp teeth. That place was teeming with fishmen.

"Um, are you willing to talk now?" Nami asked kindly. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

Sanji frowned slightly. He can't remember the last time he actually talked out loud. He usually communicates via sign language with the rest of the chefs and the old geezer. He could talk to the chefs but it got exhausting after a while and the old fart wasn't one much for conversation. Sometimes if he was lucky he could converse with a deaf customer every now and then but not many people bother to learn sign and he can't use his voice.

"It's fine if you don't want to, we can communicate with pen and paper." Nami quickly conveyed, taking Sanji's slight frown as a no.

"Ah, no it's fine we can talk." Sanji spoke softly, wincing slightly at the cracking of his voice. "I just…haven't used my voice in a long time that's all."

Nami blinked in surprise at the soft low baritone that Sanji possessed. She was expecting something higher pitched since he looked he was still in his teens but instead she heard a much lower voice of an adult man. His voice reminded Nami of those jazz singers at a party she raided from once. It wasn't amazing but it was…comforting. It reminded her of times of Nojiko supporting her when things got too heavy. Nami quickly shook thoughts of home from her mind.

"So is there a reason why you have these features?" Nami decided to ask. "Were you born like this?"

"…I was born this way, yes." Sanji replied after a slight pause. Sanji lowered his eyes and began twiddling his thumbs and sighed. "I'm half human and half…fishman."

Nami widened her eyes before lowering her head to process the information. Half human and half fishman? That was new. She's never heard of it, or even thought it was biologically possible. Or mentally. Nami thought all fishmen hated humans, likewise with humans hating fishmen. The two species never got along. Nami got first-hand experience of these interactions. The reminder of _that_ day made her unconsciously reach for her shoulder before lowering her hand back down. _Half human and half fishman…huh? Seems like something that would put you through a lot of shit._ Nami clenched her hand into a fist and smiled bitterly. _Looks like I found a buddy in 'I have a fucked up life' department._

Sanji refused to make eye contact with Nami. He didn't want to see the disgusted look on her face after finding out he had the blood of a hated species in his veins. It was fun meeting someone who wasn't terrified by his looks, but Sanji knew the moment they learned why he had these features they would immediately never want to come in contact with him again. He's experienced it way too many times. The same look of disgust of what he was. Never who he was.

"…Well that explains the fish features. I'm guessing shark?" Sanji snapped his head up at this. The moment he looked up the first thing he saw was the smile on Nami's face. It was sad, but it had a feel of acceptance. Acceptance. Of all the reactions he was expecting that was the least, it didn't even cross his mind.

"Blue shark to be exact." Sanji went on auto mode. He was being accepted. He wasn't being judged by what he was. He was being accepted. _He_ was being _accepted_ by another person!

"Why?" Sanji suddenly blurted out.

"Why what?" Nami asked rhetorically, raising an eyebrow. "That I don't care about what your genes are?"

Sanji nodded and Nami quietly spoke, "You never asked to be born this way, so why should I add onto the pain? I know what it's like to be hated by everyone. I have a whole village to prove it."

Nami sighed. "I'm worse than you. People might hate you for what you are but those people are just blockheads who are afraid of change. There are people who don't hate you as a person, am I right?"

Images of Zeff and the other chefs flashed through Sanji's head. Before he could say anything else Nami continued.

"There are people who like you for you, not for what you are. That's not the case for me." Nami gripped her shoulder this time, her skin going white underneath her sleeve from the pressure. Her mark of shame. Permanently imbedded in her skin in purple. "It won't matter if I was human, fishman or some other weird creature. What I did was unforgivable and that makes me the worst person there is in _their_ eyes."

Before she knew it everything poured out. All out in a relentless rush, all the pent up frustrations, fear, sadness, anger, misery; Nami said it all. From Bellemere's death, to joining the Arlong Pirates and making the deal of buying her village back. Nami was slowly going into hysterics as she finished talking. "To them those fishmen had ruined our lives and I went and betrayed them. They killed her right in front of my eyes and theirs and I went and joined them. They all probably think I'm the worst scum alive and will never forgive me no matter what. A WHOLE VILLAGE HATES ME! A whole village of people I love and grew up with hates me! And now I've gone and told everything to a stranger! 13 years of keeping it all in and the person I dump everything on is a stranger! Why… why…I…"

Nami began to sob, curling in on herself. Sanji was frozen. He didn't know what to do, he's had episodes before and usually when that happens only the old man could touch him. If anyone else tried he would lash out; biting, screaming and crying. He didn't know if it was the same for Nami.

"They took everything... absolutely everything." Nami sobbed. With that Sanji swooped over the edge of the boat and scooped Nami up into a hug, the boat swaying with the momentum. Nami, after a moment's hesitation hugged back. She didn't even register that she was getting wet, she just clung onto Sanji's sun shirt and cried, with Sanji rubbing her back in soothing circles. After a few minutes, Nami finally quietened down and pushed herself out of Sanji's embrace and harshly rubbed away the remaining of her tears.

"I'm sorry about that, forget anything you heard me say, it never happened." Nami shadowed her eyes with her fringe. Sanj opened his mouth but before he could say anything Nami spoke again. "Please."

The small plead made Sanji's mouth snap shut. He also lowered his eyes and slid back into the water. after a few moments of silence, he spoke up again.

"Nami-swan." Said girl looked up at the strange honorific. "Talking with you has been very enjoyable, I can't remember the last time I had a conversation like this."

After he composed himself he gave Nami a huge smile, teeth and all. "If you would ever like to meet again, come to the Baratie!"

And with that he was gone.

* * *

 _One year later_

 _Again?_ Sanji thought as he woke up in his bed. He reached over to his bedside table, scuffling around before finally finding his target. He gave a sigh of relief and automatically lit a cigarette. Taking in a huge drag, he slowly breathed out a swirl of toxic smoke. _I wonder how Nami-swan is doing._

It's been a year since he's met Nami. For the past year he paid her home island little visits, each time he left behind a small pile of money and other earnings. He's never met the redhead face to face again but he knew she was getting his offerings since every time he went back to the spot where he put his offerings was always empty.

After Sanji had returned back to the Baratie that day, after getting an earful from Zeff he went through all the wanted posters that were collected from every News Coo. Soon he found what he wanted. _ARLONG 20,000,000 beri bounty. A big shot for East Blue. Little Miss Cat's gonna need all the luck she can get._

Ever since he came back that day the chefs noticed him staring off into space a lot more often than usual. Every time they ask him what happened he always gave them the same answer.

 _"I met a little cat."_

In the end the chefs gave up but the ones that knew him for longer still bought it up every now and then but all Sanji would do is smile slightly and tell them the same thing.

Over the year somewhere at the back of Sanji's mind he would always find it worrying about the ginger cat burglar. Before Sanji knew it he started seeing her as a younger sister, despite only having one conversation with her. Hearing what happened to her made it impossible for Sanji to feel anything else but a sense of protection towards her. Or any women really, he's just can't see himself sullying a lady without feeling a sense of wrongness. Either way, he hopes that next time the two meet it will be under nicer circumstances.

"Oi! Sanji! Wake up, you lazy ass!" A banging sounded on his door, shocking Sanji awake from his half asleep state and thoughts. He scowled at the door and threw his pillow at it as an answer. It landed with an audible poof before sliding harmlessly down to the floor. After several years of being greeted like this in the morning you would think one would get used to it. They do, but it doesn't mean it isn't any less annoying.

Sanji dragged himself from the warmth of his blankets and began to make a half-assed attempt to get ready quickly.

"Hurry up!" Bellowed the voice who woke him up.

Sanji scowled and flipped at the door despite the fact the cook on the other side can't see it. _You know, telling me to go faster like that is just motivating me to go slower._ Sanji thought, irked, as he finished tying his tie and made sure his hair was in place before giving a small, unconvincing, closed lipped smile. _I have a feeling today's going to be exhausting…_

Barely even reaching 11 o'clock in the morning Sanji heard a loud boom erupt right above the restaurant on the second floor, rocking the boat dangerously. As Sanji was calming down a few customers he stared up in confusion at the sudden silence that followed the chaos. _What on earth…?_

Not even 15 minutes later, the Old Fart along with some other person fell through the roof into the restaurant causing yet another ruckus. Sanji was starting to feel a headache merging at the front of his brain with all the random shenanigans that happened within a span of 20 minutes.

 _Yep._ Sanji sighed as he stared at the weird teenager who picked himself up from the rubble, laughing. _Today is going to be extremely exhausting._

* * *

 **Sooo~ how was it? Tell me what you think in reviews please!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	2. Chapter 2

**Yay! Super quick updates! Everyone loves super quick updates! (don't get used to it)**

 **Disclaimer: Um guys? Do you really think I would own One Piece?**

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He's met many different types of people before but this one was by far one of the weirdest. Who laughs after falling through the ceiling? Sanji stared at the strange teen. He looked young, with a childish round face and messy black hair. He was wearing a bright red vest and rolled of denim pants with straw flip flops. Sanji noticed that despite the clumsy and careless feel around the teen, he had carefully picked up an old worn straw hat from the debris and gently patted off any dust before firmly planting it back onto his head.

"Ah~ that surprised me!" the straw hat teen laughed.

"Stop laughing!" Immediately out of nowhere a peg leg came crashing down on top of the teen. Said boy face planted again making a weird strangled noise. "Look at what you did now! You broke my ceiling!"

Quick as a flash, the teen jumped back up. "You were the one that broke it yourself!" he shouted back with equal vigour and head butted with the head chef.

 _I want this day to be over…_ Sanji thought with dread as he took in the damage. Fallen bits of wood and debris were strewn all over the place, the second floor is probably in worse condition than here judging by the boom from before. Plus, lots of panicking customers, a few which were female and screaming. Immediately Sanji was by their side and giving small reassuring smiles and calmed them down to the best of his abilities, all were given a bow and small kiss on the hand as an apology. It worked at least, since they stopped screaming and smiled weakly back in return. The other chefs can deal with Zeff and the weird teen, he needs to fix the damage as much as he can. The regulars were easy to calm down as were other customers, they mainly came to see the cooks and pirates fight most likely. Now all was left was the stuck up lieutenant and his date.

Sanji forced on his best closed lipped smile and made his way over to their table. He never liked marines. Well at least not the higher ups, they were stuck up and rude and this one was no better. He got worse when Sanji made a light conversation with the lovely lady that accompanied him. Sanji was genuinely surprised and slightly happy when the lady signed at him when he gave a note he couldn't speak. It was a nice break from the rowdy chefs, to be able to talk to a lovely intelligent being. The pink-haired marine didn't think so. Then there was the wine incident.

" _Are you injured, my lady?"_ Sanji signed at the women known as Moodie.

" _No, just slightly shocked that's all. Is everything alright?"_ She signed back, gesturing towards Zeff who seemed to be dragging the boy off somewhere.

" _I believe the head chef has everything under control."_ Sanji signed back and gave a what he hoped was a reassuring smile. He got his answer when Moodie smiled back. Now to deal with Mr I'm-So-Full-Of-Myself.

Sanji took out his notepad and quickly scribbled a hasty message.

 _-I apologise for the earlier ruckus. Please, continue enjoying your meal.-_

As soon as he placed the note in front of the marine he rushed off, not interested in listening to his annoying complaints.

"Sanji-kun?"

Sanji froze. He knew that voice. The last time he heard it was a year ago. He turned around slowly.

"Hi." Nami gave a small wave and a smile.

* * *

"I wonder what's taking Luffy so long?" Usopp wondered.

"Who knows?" Nami answered. "He did blow a hole into the restaurant. He's too honest for his own good."

It's been only a few weeks since she met these guys and Nami wasn't sure whether she should regret or think it was one of the best decisions of her life. First Luffy, her proclaimed 'captain' was rather eccentric in his own way. Zoro… looks scary but he's actually pretty harmless and rather lazy. Usopp was a liar and a coward but he seemed like the most normal in the group. Actually his fears seem rather reasonable when compared with a normal human. The rest were part monster in Nami's opinion.

 _Baratie…huh?_ Nami stared at the restaurant. _I wonder how Sanji-kun's doing._

Nami still remembered their first meeting like yesterday. After pouring her heart out to him she felt strangely relieved. Like weight lifted off her shoulders after telling everything to someone else. Either way Nami was thankful to the blond half-fishman's understanding of her situation and not prying at her life. He still gave her offerings of money which Nami found hidden close to where they first met. Each offering came with a small note telling about himself. First one saying it was only fair when Nami had told him everything that he should do the same. Nami smiled fondly, it was unnecessary and should be annoying but Nami found herself keeping every single note he left behind. Sometimes they were short, sometimes they were long, sometimes they were mundane like beliefs, morals, there was even one that said he interested in men which surprised the ginger head but nevertheless, she accepted him fully. She even left behind a few notes of her latest thefts for him to read as well.

Then there was the time Nami read about his horrifying childhood. Nami was just managing to hold herself back from sailing all the way to the Baratie to hug the blond and reassure him that everything was alright after reading that particular note. Instead, Nami put the note carefully into a small chest with the rest of the collection and other personal belongings.

 _It's been a year. A whole year since we met and we only had one conversation._ Nami smiled more brightly. _Yet we know more about each other than friends that knew each other for years. I wonder if Luffy will make him the cook?... actually why am I even asking that? Of course he will. He's Luffy._

Nami shook her head and stood up. "Well, I'm going to see what's taking Luffy so long. Maybe even grab something to eat while I'm at it."

"That was your original objective wasn't it?" Usopp asked suspiciously.

 _Not really._ "So I'm guessing you don't want to come?" Nami inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Soon enough both Usopp and Zoro were rowing towards the Baratie with Nami sitting bow. _Honestly throw food in with these guys and they immediately heed to every command._

As they were tying the boat to the larger ship they heard a loud crash come from within the restaurant.

 _What did you do this time, Luffy?_ The thought in unison, sweat dropping.

When they walked in the first thing they saw was Luffy fighting an old man with a peg leg and was that supposed to be a chef's hat? It was ridiculously tall and what's up with that moustache? The trio stared at the strange scene with disinterest. After all, this wasn't the worst thing Luffy dragged them into.

While Usopp and Zoro were looking Luffy arguing with the weird old man, Nami looked around the restaurant. Despite the weird outer appearance, the inside looked high class and elegant, a place where Nami would enjoy dining at really. As she looked around her eye caught a familiar blond.

She snapped her head in the direction where she spotted the blond hair. Standing there was Sanji, who was currently walking around and calming down customers. He looked so different from when they first met. Nami remembered him in loose clothing, with sea water dripping from slightly curly hair and a bright smile. This Sanji was different, in a suit with gold buttons and a tie, covering nearly every inch of his body, wearing gloves of all things, he seemed like a completely different person. Seeing him calming the female customers first made Nami smile but what quickly extinguished it was the small closed lipped smile he gave. To anyone else it looked like a polite, conserved smile but to Nami it looked forced and fake. It made her scowl.

She noted with some relish that a female customer was signing with him in a conversation. After Sanji finished checking the female customer he turned towards the other person resident at the table, a guy with pink hair. Judging by the look of the guy he seems like an asshole and seeing Sanji hurriedly scribble something on a note and near throwing it on the table before quickly walking away proved it.

It was then Nami decided to make her appearance known.

"Sanji-kun?" she called out. She saw the cook tense and freeze for a few moments before turning around with a slight look of disbelief on his face. She smiled sheepishly.

"Hi." She said lamely, giving a small wave and still smiling awkwardly.

Sanji immediately gained a huge smile, showing a bit of his teeth and walked over to her. He gave her a questioning glance. Nami knew what it meant.

"Oh, c'mere." She threw her arms around Sanji and hugged him, with Sanji hugging back happily. "I'm here."

"Welcome to the Floating Restaurant Baratie." Sanji answered back softly, keeping as closed lipped as possible. Nami smiled and squeezed him just a bit tighter.

"Nami? You know this person?" Zoro asked taking notice of the reunion of the two. _Who's that blond guy? And what's up with his eyebrows?_

"Yeah! Let me introduce you!" Nami said excitedly, and before Sanji could say anything he was dragged over to a dude with a freakishly long nose and a man with… green hair?

"Guys, this is an old friend of mine, Sanji-kun." Nami gestured to towards Sanji and pointed at the other two at each mention of their name. "Sanji-kun this is Usopp and Zoro."

Sanji gave a bow in greeting. He felt a bit uncomfortable, knowing Nami, it was a high chance she's planning on robbing them blind. He felt a bit sorry for them.

"Now introductions are over, I'm going to catch up with Sanji-kun. You two find a table for us." Nami then without warning dragged Sanji outside. He gave a small wave at the two bewildered men left behind as he was dragged off.

"…Any idea about what just happened?" Usopp asked Zoro.

"Nope."

* * *

Sanji had no idea how long they've talked but it didn't seem very long. Time seemed to fly by, updating each other up what they've missed. Sanji learnt with great happiness that Nami learnt sign language and was extremely close to completing her deal with Arlong. Likewise, Nami insisted on listening to anything Sanji wants to say, fully taking advantage of letting him speak as much as he wants. God knows how long it has been since he talked last. Soon Sanji escorted Nami back into the restaurant and led her to the table the other two were sitting at.

"So why are your eyebrows so curly, Curly Cook?" Sanji turned towards the green haired man… Zoro was his name. The man grinned and drew an invisible swirl in the air. Sanji gritted his teeth and glared, before signing his answer, relishing in the stupefied look of the dumb grasshead.

"He's says 'then why does your head resemble a mutant seaweed species, Seaweed Head?'" Nami translated, trying hard not to laugh. Usopp was also snorting at the comparison of Zoro's hair and seaweed. Sanji only raised an eyebrow as a challenge with Zoro glaring back. Sanji snorted before returning his attention to Nami, smiled and walked off. He still has a job to do. Besides, he had the last word so in your face green abomination.

"Oi! Waiter!" called out a familiar and unwelcomed gruff voice. Sanji closed his eyes and counted to ten in his head and made his way over to the marine's table. He noticed Moodie looked a bit uncomfortable and soon he saw why.

"What is this bug doing in my soup?" The marine sneered. Sure enough there was a small bug floating on the surface of the warm liquid. Sanji could feel himself recoiling at the creature and knew that when he gave the man the soup it most certainly did not have a bug in it. Seeing the guilty look on the lovely lady proved that the marine had put the bug in it himself. Sanji felt his hackles rise but nevertheless he kept his temper. He took out his notepad and wrote something down.

 _-I'm not sure, Sir. Looks to me he seems to be having a little swim.-_ Hey, he said he'll keep his temper, never said anything about not being sarcastic. If the man was still sour over wine incident from earlier than he can suck it up. He gave them a wine that complemented their meal better, it was only the marine's own fault for trying to show off with his so-called knowledge of wine.

After reading Sanji's note the sudden change of looking smug and stupid to an angry bull would have been amusing for Sanji if only… if only he didn't smash the table in his temper. That had food on it. Resulting with the food falling down on the ground with the table. Sanji bent down and placed his gloved hand on the ruined food not caring that he was dirtying the glove. It was unsalvageable. Perfectly edible food, wasted. Sanji lowered his head, his fringe shadowing his face.

"Fullbody-san!" Moodie cried out.

Nami looked up when she heard the commotion and saw the marine and Sanji. From the looks of it, it seems like Sanji's sarcasm has strike again and now he's pissed off another customer. Under different circumstances Nami would have rolled her eyes and continued on with her business but not this time. That dumb marine had smashed the table and dropped both his and his date's meal on the floor. With bits of wood and china stuck in the food and being on the ground in general the meal was completely inedible.

 _One._

Sanji was just barely keeping his temper at bay. He spent three days and nights making that soup. Moodie at least finished the majority of her soup but the marine didn't even taste it. Suddenly a dress shoe stomped down on his hands, further squashing it into the ruined soup. If Sanji wasn't wearing gloves he would be picking out bits of china out of his hands later.

 _Two._ Nami noted, taking a bite out of her delicious pasta.

"I'm the customer!" the marine was throwing a fit. "A paying customer! Should you be treating your customers in such an arrogant manner!?"

"Stop it, Fullbody-san!" Moodie grabbed on to his arms in hopes of calming him.

"Shut up!" the marine flung her to the ground. Moodie gave a pained cry when she fell down, hands scrapping on the fallen china.

"F-Fullbody-san?" Moodie meekly called out, bringing her injured hands close to her chest.

 _Three. You're out._

"…Can money fill your stomach?" Sanji spoke softly.

"What?" Fullbody was stupefied that the supposed mute chef spoke. Sanji was surprised too, but there's no backing down now.

"I said…" Sanji looked up, teeth bared to the marine only, his hair hiding his face from the rest of the customers. "Can money fill your stomach!?"

The marine gave a cry of shock. "Y-you! _What_ are you?!"

Sanji didn't answer, all he saw was red as he jumped onto his hands and gave a roundhouse kick. He didn't know how long he beat up the marine for but all he knows is that the ending result was holding the marine by his neck who was on the brink of unconsciousness, missing several teeth and had blood dripping down his face and arm.

By now several other chefs had come to see what's the commotion about. "Sanji!" "Assistant Head Chef!"

"Messing with a cook of the sea is a good way of getting yourself killed." Sanji said quietly to the marine. "Remember that well."

With that he dropped the marine onto the floor with a thud. He bowed in apology to the customers and he checked up on Moodie but she had a look of fear on her face the whole time he was in contact with her. Sanji tried to shrug it off, it was his own fault anyway, lashing out and scaring her but there was something else that added onto Moodie's fear. When he saw her look fearfully towards his mouth he tensed. So she saw it too. That explains a lot of things.

"Oi Sanji! Are you at it again?!"

Sanji looked disinterestedly to see Patty storming towards him.

" _Got a problem, you shitty cook?"_ Sanji signed.

"A shitty cook like you has no right to call me shitty!" Patty shouted back at the smaller man. "What do you think you're doing to our customers! And isn't that the marine lieutenant?! How many times do I have to tell you that customers are everything to a restaurant?!"

Sanji gave a snort. _"Customer or not, this guy had ruined our dishes. Not only that, he insulted the cook who made it as well!"_

Sanji threw a look of disdain to the now cowering marine. _"All I did was show him the consequences of his actions."_

As Patty was about to open his mouth to scream at him again the marine suddenly spoke, recovered slightly from the earlier attack.

"What the hell is wrong with this restaurant? If this is the way you treat your customers how does it stay in business?" the marine gritted out in pain. Sanji tched. He should have kicked harder. He's had enough of the whiny dirt bag.

"I'll destroy it!" the marine shouted out to the best of his ability. "I'll destroy your precious little restaurant! I'll contact my superiors to have it taken down!"

 _This guy is really asking for a death wish right now._ Sanji thought, tapping his dress shoes, readying for another kick. _Luckily for him I'm just about to give it to him._

Unfortunately, the other chefs had noticed him shifting his stance and now there are about five chefs holding him down.

"Stop it Sanji! Calm yourself!" the chefs shouted struggling to keep the half-fishman at bay. Despite being held down by 5 burly men Sanji still managed to advance towards the terrified marine. To say he was furious was an understatement. Sanji was half tempted to open his mouth and scream at the other chefs to let him go. He's going to make that marine wish he was never born!

"Brat, what do you think you're doing?! Are you trying to ruin my restaurant?!" Sanji finally stopped struggling. He turned his head towards the head chef and scowled. _Old man._

"You insolent boy!" Sanji saw it coming and made no move to dodge it. Zeff's peg leg came smashing across his face. Sanji winced slightly. Great, he lost several teeth with that one, he needs to spit them out later.

"And you!" Zeff shouted at the marine, startling him out of his previous short-lived triumph. Zeff gave a good kick to the marine's face, making the man fly a good few meters. "Get the hell out of here!"

 _What the hell is wrong with this restaurant?_ Fullbody thought as he struggled to stand up and threw a fearful look at the arguing chefs. _It's like…it's like they're a pirate gang! What kind of chefs are they?"_

"L-lieutenant!" A new voice caught the attention of everyone. They turned and saw a staggering low rank marine. "Lieutenant Fullbody! We have a problem!"

What the man said next made the upper marine's blood run cold. "The Pirate Krieg's man escaped!"

"What?!" Fullbody cried out in shock.

"We thought he would give us a lead to where Krieg's whereabouts!" the marine lowered his head. "We've already lost seven men!"

"That's impossible! When we found him three days ago and he was nearly starving to death! We haven't even fed him during the time he was captured!" Fullbody cried out in disbelief.

Frightened murmurs rang across the restaurant. Krieg? The most powerful pirate of East Blue? And one of his men's escaped?

Sanji bristled. _They fed nothing to a starving man for three days?_

"I'm really sor-" A gunshot cut off the marine as he fell to the ground lifeless, causing the customers to panic and scream, running as far away from the man standing with the gun. The only people who haven't moved were the chefs, Nami's table and the petrified marine. Slowly the man stepped over the corpse and made his way over to an empty table.

"Another customer has arrived." Patty stated calmly.

"This one had better not cause any more trouble in my restaurant." Zeff grumbled.

Sanji stayed silent. He's had enough today. He made his way over to Nami's table and quietly calmed himself down. Sanji gave a sigh of exhaustion, he hasn't been that angry for a long time. Nami gave him a look of sympathy and patted his arm in comfort. Already he was feeling himself calming down. Honestly, women were a gift sent from heaven and Sanji will eternally feel grateful towards them. oh weird teen was there too. Seems like he came down with the Old Fart.

Sanji observed the staggering man. He was wearing grey pants and matching jacket that was decorated with two dragons on either side in S like shapes with a green shirt underneath it. Under the striped blue and white headband there was blood pouring down his face. Sanji could see his cheeks were hollowed and the dark bags under his eyes showed fatigue and lack of sleep. When Sanji saw his wrist peek out from the man's sleeve Sanji can see the bones in great detail. When the man finally made it towards a table he collapsed in his chair and rested his leg on the table.

"I don't care what it is." The pirate wheezed out, panting and looked up. "Bring me food. This is a restaurant, right?"

"Welcome mere bastard." Patty greeted the starving man with a smile, shocking some customers. "I'm sorry Sir, but you're going to have to pay for a meal here, do you have enough money?"

"That man is going to kill that cook…" Fullbody muttered in disbelief.

The pirate paused before lifting the gun to Patty's forehead. "Is a bullet ok?"

Patty scowled. "So I take it you don't have money?" The pirate could only widen his eyes before Patty hammered him into the ground.

Sanji sighed again. _Great another broken chair, so now we have a hole in both of our ceilings, several smashed cutleries, a broken table, broken chairs and the floor's a mess. Either way I am not cleaning that up by myself._

"Oh~ that's a lot of power." The straw hat teen noted.

"If you can't pay, you can't eat." Patty folded his arms and towered over the fallen pirate.

"Good going, Patty-san!" one of the chefs called out, with the customers cheering along with him. A loud growl sounded from the pirate's stomach.

"Oh, your stomach growling quite a bit, you filthy pirate." Patty sneered.

"That was a fart." The pirate weakly protested, smiling up at Patty scornfully. "Hurry up and get me something to eat, you jerk."

"You're no customer so get out of here!" Patty screamed.

As the scene was starting to get worse Sanji slowly made his way to the kitchen. Nami noticed him leaving and smiled, making no move to stop him.

Sanji slipped off his gloves and rolled up his sleeves. He went through the familiar steps of preparing one of his specials. Letting the rhythmic pattern of his chopping take over, Sanji went on auto, listening to the ruckus outside. Sounds like the pirate's being beaten up pretty badly. Five minutes later Sanji was carrying a plate of freshly made food and a glass of water. He made his way out the back door and sure enough he found the pirate lying on the floor. Sanji gently placed the food in front of the pirate and sat down beside him.

"What?" the pirate stared up at him in disbelief before turning his head away from the food. "Take it away! This is worse! I won't accept charity!"

Sanji frowned. "Stop acting tough and eat already." Sanji muttered, making sure his teeth were out of sight. "To me, anyone who's hungry is a customer."

"I-I can't pay for it." The pirate gritted out, barely finishing his sentence before his stomach gave a loud growl.

Sanji gave a grunt of annoyance and rest his head against the railing. "The ocean's vast and cruel. It's awful to be without food and water… I understand starving people better than anyone."

Sanji looked down at the pirate. "I don't care if you want to die with dignity but wouldn't it be better to live and see tomorrow?"

That was all it took. The next moment the pirate began scarfing down the food like the starved man he was.

"This is delicious." The man began to cry. "I thought I was going to die!"

Sanji bought out a cigeratte and lit it. Taking a drag, a cloud of smoke was released into the air.

"It's so delicious! I've never had such a good meal in my whole life!" the man paused to wipe away his tears, overwhelmed by the act of kindness.

Sanji grinned. "It's shitty good, isn't it?" Sanji asked with pride.

Suddenly Sanji heard a laugh. "I found a good cook~"

Sanji froze and snapped his mouth shut, snapping his head up. Sure enough the weird teen was standing there on the second floor and looking down at him with the biggest smile that Sanji's has ever seen.

"You're pretty lucky aren't you?" the guy shouted down at the pirate. "If he hadn't helped you it would be all over for you."

"Oi, Cook, care to join us?" Luffy shouted at Sanji. "Be the chef of our pirate ship!"

 _Huh?_ "Huh?" Sanji thought while simultaneously the pirate voiced his thoughts.

 _The fuck?_

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review~**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	3. Chapter 3

**Note:**

"speech"

" _sign language"_

 _thoughts_

 _-writing-_

 **Thank you all so much for your reviews, follows and favourites! Seeing people enjoy my stories makes me extremely happy! *bows and cries tears of joy***

 **Disclaimer: …yeah, nah. Sarcastic comebacks are mine though.**

* * *

 _This is restaurant sure is lively._ Zoro thought observing the burly chef beating up the pirate, with everyone else cheering him on. Zoro scowled, this was going against a lot of his morals but he didn't do anything to intervene, the guy will probably feel worse getting help from another. The only ones who weren't cheering were him, Nami, Usopp and the weird old man with a tall chef hat. The blond guy from before was nowhere to be seen.

 _What's up with him anyway? I thought he couldn't talk._ Zoro thought back to the snarky man. When Nami introduced blond to Zoro he stayed silent and kept his mouth shut firmly. Zoro provoking him later, which he will admit was a rather lack of discipline, to see if he would talk had earned him weird hand gestures and an infuriating closed lipped smirk. The earlier scene of the slender man beating up the stuck up marine, Zoro heard the man loud and clear despite how quiet he was so the man wasn't mute, he just didn't want to talk and judging by the horrified cry from the marine when he did speak, the guy probably had a good reason to keep his mouth shut.

The blond didn't look like much, having a rather delicate touch to him with how he looked and dressed, but Zoro knew a fighter when he saw one. Didn't think he would be that strong, so that surprised Zoro slightly. The man was weird, covering nearly every inch of his body to the point of wearing gloves and the skin that was exposed was so pale it looked translucent. His eyebrow was the first thing that Zoro noticed and it was really hard not to laugh. It looked ridiculous and comical and Zoro couldn't help but poke fun at it. Zoro didn't expect the man to stare at him straight in the eye with that weird black blue eye and insult back with a jab at his hair. Normally people would cower in fear of the 'Demon of the East Blue' but the man just butted heads with him, never backing down from a fight. A _challenge._

Zoro grinned. He liked that. The guy looked like he was his age and from what he said before seems like he was a chef. A good one too. So a fighter, a chef, the same age as Zoro, tick, tick, tick and tick, Zoro has no complaints for the possible future crewmate. Zoro saw Luffy chasing after the blond and knew the guy's fate has been sealed. Once Luffy has you in his clutches you will never escape nor will you really want to.

That blond is going to join whether he liked it or not and Zoro sure as hell wasn't complaining.

* * *

Sanji was quite in a predicament. The teen was staring at him intently with an excited gleam in his eye after asking his question and Sanji had a funny feeling he wasn't going to have much choice with this one. He took a calming drag of his cigarette and lowered his head so the teen couldn't see his mouth. The other man had his full attention on the teen so Sanji didn't bother hiding from him. he still turned sideways just in case.

"So, you're a pirate?" Sanji asked foregoing trying to pretend he can't speak. He had a feeling pretending not to talk will only cause him a headache around this guy.

"Yup!" the teen answered happy and jumped off the second floor and landed next to Sanji.

"Why did you attack us?" Sanji asked. According to the other chefs this guy was the reason why they have to pay a hefty sum for damage repair.

"That was an accident! I'm sorry!" the teen whined slightly. Sanji wasn't so sure how you can accidently blow a hole in the roof but the teen seemed to be telling the truth despite how far-fetched so Sanji accepted the apology.

"Hey, join us!" the teen demanded.

"I refuse." Sanji's response was immediate. "I have my reasons why I must stay here."

"No! I refuse!" Suddenly the teen was in his face and Sanji nearly swallowed his cigarette in surprise.

"R-refuse what?" Sanji stuttered, covering his mouth with the pretence of reaching for his death stick.

"I refuse your refusal!" The teen stated with a tone of finality. "You're a good cook, so come with me to be a pirate!"

 _What the hell is up with this guy?!_ Sanji screamed in his head, as he stared up at the teen in shock. _What's up with his logic?!_

"Hey, listen here, you need to respect other people's decisions!" Sanji exclaimed, still covering his mouth. "I'm not going with you!"

"Don't care! Join us!"

Sanji snapped. Too many people been rubbing on his nerves today and his emotions had been going in loops of being happy and angry. The restaurant's half ruined, another person found out about his teeth and then there's the weird teen!

"I said I won't join! Leave me alone, you bastard, before I fillet you!" Sanji shouted at the teen, jumping up and shoving his face in the teen's face. Sanji quietened down when he saw the teen staring at him with wide eyes. "What?"

"…YOU'RE TEETH ARE SO COOL~!" The teen exclaimed with stars in his eyes.

Sanji froze. When he jumped up and shouted at the straw hat bastard he had completely forgot about hiding his teeth. Sanji slapped his hands over his mouth. _Shit!_

"That's it! You're joining! No arguments! Captain's Orders!" the teen shouted in his excitement.

Sanji was stunned for a few seconds before he snapped back. "What?! You're not my captain! How many times do I need to tell you the answer is NO?!"

"Join us!" The teen was relentless.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"No!"

"YES!"

"NO!"

"Um, sorry to interrupt but…"

The intrusion of the new voice caught the attention of both arguing males. Sanji paled. He forgot there was still another pirate. Four people saw his teeth today. Four. Sanji quietened down and turned his full attention towards the Krieg pirate with a blank face.

"What?" Sanji asked curtly, sucking on his death stick again. The man stared at him warily but continued on talking. Well at least this man was polite about his less than human features.

"I'm part of the Krieg pirates. I'm Gin." The man introduced himself before turning his attention to the straw hat teen. "So you're a pirate too?"

"What's your goal?" the pir–Gin asked.

"I'm looking for One Piece." The teen grinned his answer. "I'm headed for the Grand Line."

Gin widened his eyes and began to sweat. "You're still looking for a cook so your crew must still be pretty small."

"Yeah we got five, including him." Luffy confirmed, pointing at Sanji.

"Why the hell are you including me?!" Sanji exclaimed, annoyed.

"You look like a decent guy, so let me give you a piece of advice." Gin continued ignoring Sanji's outburst. "You better not go to the Grand Line. You're still young, there's no need to rush. Grand line is only a small part of this world's vast ocean."

"I see." The teen answered offhandedly before asking the pirate with a bit more enthusiasm, "do you know anything about the Grand Line?"

Gin gained a haunted look. "No I don't know anything about it. Nothing at all. That's what makes it so scary."

"Aren't you part of the Krieg Pirates?" Sanji asked. "I didn't know there were cowards on his crew."

Gin stayed silent but he lowered his eyes to the ground. Sanji sighed. Maybe he was a bit harsh on with that last comment.

"Let's get you a ship." Sanji suddenly spoke and walked off to untether one of the smaller boats on the Baratie. "You were captured so I highly doubt you would have a boat. Take this one."

"…Are you sure?" Gin asked hesitant. "You've already fed me."

"Just take it. We've got two more." Sanji waved of the other man's hesitancy. Gin looked back at the teen but all he did was grin at him. Gin smiled slightly before jumping on the boat. After checking everything he looked up at the two males.

"Later then." He said.

"I'm still going to the Grand Line." Straw Hat (Sanji decided to call him that) clarified.

"Yeah, do what you want. We're strangers so I have no right to tell you what to do." Gin regarded Straw Hat. "I was only warning you."

"Sanji-san." Gin turned his attention towards the withdrawn blond. A slight shift in his stance showed that he was listening so Gin continued. "Thank you so much, you saved my life."

Gin gave a huge smile. "The fried rice was delicious. Can I come again?"

Sanji paused before smiling back showing off his teeth. He's already broken too many of his personal rules today so might as well continue and start fresh tomorrow. "Anytime!"

"So there you are, waiter boy." And Straw Hat snapped his head up.

"Ah! It's the old man!" He cried out. Sure enough there stood Zeff in all his stern glory.

"Gin, get going." Sanji ordered quietly.

"I'm sorry." Gin clutched at his head band. "Because of me you're going to get in trouble."

"Trouble? What trouble?" Sanji mocked confusion and picked up the empty plate and glass. He walked over to the railing and threw the evidence into the ocean. Gin stared with wide eyes as the plate and glass landed with a splash and slowly sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

"Trouble for feeding a customer for free? What proof do you have?" Sanji grinned down at Gin. The man was overwhelmed. Ever since the Sanji had met him he had treated him with nothing but kindness. As he set sail from the floating restaurant he went on his knees and bowed as deep as he could.

"Thank you Sanji-san!" Gin cried out. "I'll never forget this!"

"Don't get caught again, Gin!" Sanji called back. Both Sanji and Straw Hat watched as the boat grew smaller.

"Sanji! Waiter boy!" the old man called out the moment the ship was merely a dot on the horizon. "Get back to work!"

Sanji and Straw Hat watched the old man disappear from sight.

"Join our-"

"No."

"But whyyyy~?" The teen whined. "You're a good cook and you have really cool teeth! I've already decided it'll be you as our cook and no one else!"

"I have my reasons." Sanji stated and glared at the teen. "While I am flattered, you'll have to find another cook. If you plan on setting sail, you'll need to find a cook. Just. Not. Me. Got it?"

"No!"

"Why are you so stubborn, dammit?!"

"Join us!" Suddenly Straw Hat's arms extended far beyond humanly possible, wrapped around Sanji's neck and suddenly Sanji found himself giving a very unwilling piggyback ride to the teen.

"The fuck?! Let go of me! What the hell happened to your arms?!" Sanji exclaimed, struggling against the tight arms wrapped around his neck.

"I ate the gum-gum fruit! I'm a rubber man!" The teen stretched his cheek as if to prove what he said was true.

 _Devil fruit user?_ Sanji thought as he continued to try and pry the teen off of him. After ten minutes of fruitless struggling Sanji gave up and began walking back into the kitchen with a new acquired human backpack.

As Sanji was making his way back inside he could feel a small smile growing on his face. Another stranger accepted him. So far only three people accepted him wholeheartedly for who he was and what he was when they first met him without question. First time was when he was ten, second time was eight years later and now. Despite himself Sanji could feel himself getting less annoyed. It's like the teen made the people who surround him forcefully happy with the infectious sunny attitude he had.

"…Will you please let go of me so I can work?" Sanji asked.

"Nope! You're my crew's cook now and I'm not letting you go!" The teen tightened his grip even more. Sanji felt his vein throb before sighing and resigned to giving a piggyback ride to the teen. At least it didn't hinder his work since the teen was doing all the work of clinging onto him. It really did feel like Sanji was just carrying a really strange backpack.

As Sanji was filleting a fish for the next dish he felt Straw Hat looking around the busy kitchen. Sanji could feel a few stares but he tuned them out. If he can tune out eardrum shattering angry screams than he can tune out a few random stares.

"Oi! Waiter boy! If you're doing nothing go wash the dishes!" Patty screamed and forcefully pulled the teen off of Sanji, nearly choking him in the process since the guy had wrapped his arms around his neck extremely securely. Sanji coughed for a few minutes, getting his breath back and glared at Patty and flipped him off with both hands. Patty only flipped back and dragged the teen to the piles of dirty dishes.

Soon the usual rowdy screams and insults flew across room and Sanji finally relaxed. _Normalcy. At last._

*crash*

Sanji frowned but continued to chop the vegetables a bit more vigorously.

*crash*

Sanji could feel his eyebrow twitch but he tipped the vegetables into the pot to finish off the simmering stew.

*crash*

Sani taste tested the stew and decided to add some salt. He tasted it again and gave a satisfied smile. Perfect.

*crash*

"Oi, waiter boy! How many dishes did you break?!" Patty screamed finally finding out where the crashing came from.

"Ah, I forgot to count." Straw Hat broke yet another dish.

Patty fumed. "You're not supposed to!"

Sanji glanced over and narrowed his eyes. He put the stove cooking the stew on low to keep it warm and grabbed a notepad. He marched over and dragged the clueless teen away from the angry chef.

"Hey! Don't eat the customer's food!"

Sanji frowned and looked over and sure enough Straw Hat seemed to be chewing something. Sanji seethed yanked the younger man by the ear and exited the kitchen.

"Look, just go and take customers' orders ok? All you have to do is ask what they want and write it down. Surely you're not dumb enough not to understand that?" Sanji gritted out, trying to keep his temper in check. "when you give us the orders don't even think about touching anything in the kitchen. If you do, I wouldn't mind trying to see if I can cook a rubber man, alright?"

All Sanji saw was the teen's eyes grow comically large and nervous sweat gathered on his brow before he slammed the door in his face.

Sanji stomped back to his station and barely even rolling up his sleeves he felt a tap on his shoulder. Sanji's vein throbbed and he turned around. A wine bottle was shoved in face by a scowling Patty.

"Table five ordered this. Go take it to them." Patty stated, shoving it in Sanji's hands. Sanji took it without question and made his way out of the kitchen. All the chefs were old and burly, most were ex-pirates or had been involved with shady business and they looked it too. Sanji was the only one with a face that won't scare people and better. They've already scared of their waiters, no need to scare of customers as well. But first…

Sanji glared at his soiled gloves. Fucking marine ruined one of his favourites. He made a quick detour to his room and threw the ruined gloves onto his bed. After shifting around Sanji found a pair he deemed worthy and tugged it on, hiding his naturally sharp nails and grey tone at the fingertips.

As Sanji made his way out of the room he spotted himself in the mirror. He stared for a split second to scowl at his reflection before quickly averting his eyes and made his way back into the restaurant.

Slowly, Sanji made his way back to dining hall, slowly began to build up his walls again. He's lost his temper way too much, it's time to go back to being professional. That earlier incident with the marine was stupid and childish. He's needs keep in check when he needs to let off some steam so he won't explode on customers again. _Plus…_ Sanji pressed his lips together tightly. _No more letting people see my teeth. Gin, Straw Hat and Moodie shouldn't be a problem but that marine… no, don't dwell on it. If they take me I won't go down without a fight._

Sanji stopped right in front of the closed doors to the restaurant and took in a deep breath. He schooled his features into the familiar expression of calm and just the right amount of smiling to be polite. It was forced but he's been doing it for years now, so it came instinctively.

Sanji walked in and made his way over to table five. Another date it seemed, with the man and woman talking softly to each other and Sanji made his presence as scarce as he can, not wanting to interrupt the date. The lady smiled up at him when he poured wine in her glass and he smiled back. When he turned his attention to the man, he earned a glare and Sanji only stared at him neutrally, calmly pouring wine into the man's glass. Did the guy get less wine than his date? Possibly.

"Sanji-kun! Over here!"

Sanji immediately perked up and looked around and spotted Nami waving him over. He quickly placed the wine bottle down and hurriedly made his way over to the loudest table in the restaurant, completely oblivious to the lingering stare of the lady and seething glare of her date.

" _Is there anything I can help you with, milady?"_ Sanji signed, smiling a bit more genuinely.

"Mm!" Nami nodded. "I'll have any specials made by you. The food here's good but you promised I would try your cooking."

Sanji smiled remembering the promise made over their many passed notes. _"How about the Scallop Piccata with Sautéed Spinach accompanied with Angel Hair pasta?"_

"Sounds delicious." Nami said and folded her arms, looking up at Sanji. "So did you meet Luffy?"

" _Straw Hat? Yeah."_ Sanji answered back. _"Crazy guy was going on about making me the cook to his pirate ship. I refused and he had the nerve to say he refuses my refusal."_

"Sounds like something Luffy would say." Nami laughed. "He forced all of us to be his crewmates as well. We didn't want to as first but now here we are."

" _Wait. You're the crew he was talking about?"_ Sanji asked surprised. _"And you agreed?"_

"Nami? Can you translate for us?" The long nose guy asked timidly. "This is a rather one-sided conversation for us."

Before Nami could answer they heard an outraged cry above them and all present at the table looked up. Speak of the devil, Luffy was staring down at them with a betrayed look on his face.

"Ah! That's not fair! How come you guys are allowed to eat?! That's hurts!" Luffy whined and Sanji blinked. When did he get to the table so fast? Just a few seconds ago he was still walking down the stairs!

"Yo, Luffy! I heard you're stuck working here for a year! Can I redraw the flag?" Zoro laughed at his captain's misfortune and took a bite from the stew Sanji remembered he made earlier. "I have to admit through, the food here is great."

Sanji blinked and smiled slightly, pleasantly surprised that the brute complimented his cooking. Seems like he wasn't a total asshole after all. He actually didn't look half bad now that Sanji had a closer look, maybe even considered attractive in Sanji's books. Sanji took in the detail of the definition of the guy's muscles, toned to be perfect vessels of power and the sun-kissed tan skin… ok time to stop that trial of thought.

"I feel kinda sorry for you." The green haired man continued and threw his head back and laughed. Luffy, who was picking his nose, chose that opportunity to flick a freshly picked booger into Zoro's glass of water. Sanji gagged and crinkled his nose but he didn't say anything. Usopp and Nami were trying to stifle their laughs, turning away from Zoro and laughing quietly into their hands. They started to laugh harder when Zoro reached for his glass of water.

"Still, on year of working here? That's rather harsh…" Zoro tipped the glass near his mouth. Sanji was about to warn him but before he could even blink the guy had already jumped up and tipped it forcefully into Luffy's mouth instead. "YOU DRINK IT!"

"Why would you do that?!" Luffy rolled around on the floor, gagging and coughing. Usopp and Nami were already laughing with no restraints and even Sanji's mouth was twitching into a smile but he kept a straight face.

"You too! What were you trying to pull?" Zoro asked, towering over his captain, scowling. Usopp and Nami were still laughing, banging the table and clutching their stomach from laughing too hard.

Sanji stiffened when he felt a whole restaurant's worth of stares aimed at their table and he looked around sheepishly at the customers. They were being pretty loud, albeit he was making no noise but the other four were.

After Luffy finally recovered he spotted Sanji standing beside his crew's table and smiled hugely.

"Ah! I should introduce you!" Luffy jumped up and wrapped his limbs around Sanji again. "This is Sanji! He's a really good cook and is going to be joining out crew! Plus he has really-"

Sanji slapped his hand over Luffy's mouth and glared at him. He did not need the whole restaurant to know about his teeth. Luckily the younger man took the hint but he didn't stay quiet.

"Either way, he's the crew's cook now so you better get along with him!" Luffy exclaimed when Sanji released him.

"Is that so Sanji-kun?" Nami asked surprised before Sanji could protest again. "I thought you wanted to stay here but it so, I welcome you with open arms. I need someone with an intelligence level above cavemen on the crew."

Sanji deflated and shook his head painfully. Nami's mouth turned down slightly and he deflated even more if possible. He hated to upset Nami or any lady, it just didn't sit right with him to see a look of distress on a lady's face and know that he was the one that caused it.

" _I'm sorry, Nami-swan. I would love to go out to sea with a goddess like you but you know why I must stay."_ Sanji replied. Nami knew if he had dog ears they would be dropping pathetically.

" _Eh, don't worry about it. Knowing what's going to happen Luffy going to somehow, by some miracle, make you join and you will be completely happy with it. Come on, the kicked puppy look doesn't suit you. Smile."_ Nami signed this time and made a semicircle with her fingers on her face as an indication to smile. Immediately Sanji brightened up when he saw that Nami wasn't really upset and gave a lopsided smile.

"Great, now we don't understand either of them, this isn't even one-sided anymore." Usopp complained. Zoro only stared at Sanji.

That smile looked genuine. It looked nothing like the frozen forced one that Zoro has been seeing. It wasn't flattering to the man in the slightest, stretching his face awkwardly like he hasn't smiled for a long time and he just looked goofy in general, looking like he was on cloud nine. _What did the Sea Hag say to him that made him this happy? He looks like an idiot._ Zoro thought grumpily, _Why am I even bothered by this?_

" _I'm sorry, Nami-swan. I hope you can find it in yourself to forgive me. There's just an obstacle in the way of us traveling the seas together."_ Sanji apologized and gave a kiss to the back of the ginger's hand. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Zoro and Luffy looking a little put out, staring at him and his attitude towards women. Sanji ignored them both in favour of a paying more attention to his goddess.

Nami smiled, happy with the attention that she was given. She ignored the extravagant words, since she got used to it over the years of reading it through notes, honestly this was pretty tame compared to what he usually says. These words were purely meant to make ladies feel happy after all, so Nami knew there was no ill intent. Plus, he doesn't even swing that way but the sweet words were nice to hear.

"Is that obstacle me, by any chance, Shitty Eggplant?" Zeff suddenly appeared out of nowhere, obviously being there long enough to see his adopted son sign the last sentence. Sanji gave a small start. You would think that having a peg leg and being old would make one's presence known but nope. The shitty geezer makes little to no noise and it unnerved Sanji sometimes.

 _Shitty Geezer_. Sanji turned around and levelled the old man with a glare.

"This is great, why don't you just go ahead and be a pirate with them?" Zeff continued, levelling Sanji with his own glare. "We don't need you here anymore."

 _What?!_ Sanji clenched his fists and his glare turned damn near murderous. _"Shitty Geezer, I'm the sous-chef here, what's this shit about not needing me here anymore?"_

"You always fight with our customers, you flirt with our female customers and you make shitty food." Zeff replied, and began walking over and stood menacingly in front of Sanji. "You're nothing but a burden to this restaurant!"

Sanji glared down at the old head chef and stayed quiet. He could hear the snickers of the other chefs but he ignored them and payed his full attention to Zeff.

"The other chefs don't like you, so why don't you just go be a pirate and do whatever you please and get the hell out of here!?" Zeff shouted in Sanji's face.

Sanji counted to ten in his head and without even knowing it, his usual blank face started to come back. Void of all emotion he continued staring at the head chef. _"I don't care about your other excuses but no one talks shit about my food. No one. Not even you."_

When Zeff saw Sanji's blank face slowly take place the old man's face suddenly showed an indescribable emotion before kicking Sanji across the room.

Sanji grimaced but made no sound as he crashed into a table _. Great another table broken…wait why isn't there any food on me…?_ He looked up and saw he had crashed into Nami's table, each person that was present had grabbed a plate of food, safe and out of harm's way. Sanji felt a slight swell of happiness for that.

Nami gave a stare at Sanji, silently asking if he was alright. Sanji gave a slight nod and she relaxed slightly. Sanji turned his attention back to the head chef, face back to its neutral scowl. If Sanji noticed the old man became slightly less tense to see the usual scowl on Sanji's face he said nothing.

" _I don't care what you say, but I'm staying here and I will become the head chef. So sorry to disappoint, but I'm not leaving."_ Sanji signed, still slightly sore from being thrown around all day. Honestly, he's not some punching bag, just because he can withstand pain doesn't mean it doesn't _hurt_.

"Hmph, good luck becoming the head chef. I'm going to live for another 100 years!" Zeff replied.

" _Then I'll live 1000."_ Sanji sniped back and stared defiantly at the head chef. Zeff only huffed and walked away.

… _Is it sad that I believe that? Shitty Geezer's probably gonna outlive all of us._ Sanji thought, contrasting completely with what he had signed as he stared at the retreating back of Baratie's founder.

Sanji jolted when he felt a heavy slap to the back and he turned around to find Luffy way to close for comfort grinning.

"This is great! He just gave you his blessing! Now you can be a pi-" Before Luffy could even finish, Sanji had already grabbed him by the neck, efficiently cutting him off, and gave a warning glare at the rubber man. The guy didn't even look that affected, damn him and his devil fruit powers. At least he stayed quiet.

Sanji immediately jumped up and righted the table and smoothed out the table cloth. _Well the table isn't broken by some miracle._

" _I apologise for that earlier disruption, here, I've ordered a Fruit Macedonia for you, my princess."_ Sanji gently placed the dessert he grabbed from a passing tray in front of Nami.

"Oh~ it's looks so pretty!" Nami clasped her hand together in delight and took a bite out of her dessert. "It's delicious!"

"Oi, what about us?" Usopp complained at the blond. Sanji stared back coolly and wrote something down on his notepad before sliding it across towards the long-nose.

 _-I've ordered some hot tea for you. Do you want mochi* along with it?-_

As Usopp fumed, Nami looked up at Sanji with big doe eyes. Sanji didn't even need her to say anything before he nodded in confirmation. He looked over at the over guys present and quickly signed something towards Nami.

"Yay! Oh by the way you guys still have to pay." Nami informed the other two.

"Wait, what about you?!" Usopp asked in disbelief.

"I don't have to pay. Sanji would never let an old friend pay for food, would you?" Nami aimed the last part of her sentence towards Sanji who smiled back goofily in agreement.

"Hey, how come she gets the special treatment? I'll sue you, love cook!" Usopp shouted and turned towards Zoro. "Go get him Zoro!"

"Can you please stop choking our captain?" Zoro asked dead panned, ignoring Usopp completely.

Sanji blinked and looked down. Sure enough he was still grabbing onto Luffy's neck, but thanks to his devil fruit power, the teen only stretched his neck to a comfortable length and was quietly drinking the arrived tea. Sanji narrowed his eyes and let go. Sure enough, exactly like rubber, the teen's head snapped back and knocked him backwards from the force. Sanji gave him a kick to the head for good measure.

Sanji lifted Luffy into a head lock and began dragging the winded teen across the floor. "That's enough slacking off, go and hand the customers towels when they walk in, got it?" Sanji spoke into Luffy's ear.

"Yes, sir." The teen answered back meekly.

The remaining three only stared at the two walking away with sweat drops running down their head. If you listened hard enough one could hear a jazzy saxophone playing in the background. But then again, it could be your imagination.

* * *

 ***A Japanese rice cake that is really tasty and I recommend you try some if you haven't before!**

 **Thank you all again for your reviews and if you have any questions or things you would like to say about this fic whether it's positive or negative please do! I love hearing other people's opinions! :D**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	4. Chapter 4

… **uh yeah. This is kinda late… but hey a nice long chapter to compensate! Yeah I might have made this chapter twice as long as usual…**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing. But I do owe you guys an apology for this late chapter. SORRY!**

* * *

Four. It's only been four days. Four motherfucking days of seeing the clumsy teen break nearly half of their dishes, constantly eat the customers' food, getting orders mixed up and not even feel the slightest bit guilty. Sanji swore if he had to take another day of customers and the chefs complaining to him about that dumb straw hat idiot, someone will die a horrible and painful death of being continuously stabbed by the bluntest butter knife he can find along with a good kicking that will definitely leave behind stains on his shoes. Who gives a shit if he ruins his shoes? Zeff ruined his own before.

 _What is the Old Man thinking, still keeping him here? This idiot hasn't paid back a single beri of his debt. In fact, he did the opposite. He's increasing his debt and my headaches._ Sanji thought, murderous intent oozing out of him as he viciously scrubbed at the stubborn stain at the bottom of a pot.

"Sanji~ I'm bored~"

Ah yes, how could he forget? One of his bigger and definitely his most annoying problem. Forget breaking plates and mixing up customers' orders, that was just the tip of the iceberg, this is by far worse. Luffy had apparently decided since Sanji won't join his little pirate crew, he's going to latch onto the chef until he does. Quite literally.

"Sanji~ I'm hungry~"

"You're only saying you're hungry because you're bored!" Sanji damn near screeched at the human rubber backpack. "If you're bored go and do some work to take your mind off of it!"

"But Sanji~ work is even more boring and then I'll get even hungrier~"

"I don't give a shit! You're bothering my work!" Sanji began to struggle against the rubber arms again. But like always, his attempts ended in vain and the teen still has his arms and legs wrapped securely around Sanji's neck and waist. "Let go of me!"

"Then join my crew!" Luffy exclaimed. It was the same response that Sanji heard over and over again for the past four days. Vice versa his answer will always stay the same as well.

"No! Let go of me damn it!" Sanji shouted in the teen's face. The rubber bastard didn't even flinch. He just stared intently at Sanji's mouth with sparkling eyes, clearly wanting to see Sanji's teeth again. Sanji's vein throbbed and his headache intensified. One other thing the younger man kept bugging Sanji about was his teeth. At least the younger male didn't stretch open his mouth again like last time just to see them. It was nice that someone actually liked his teeth and Sanji could still feel himself smiling at the thought of it but still; it would be appreciated if the teen had even the slightest sense of personal space. If lovely Nami wasn't there to give a good powerful punch to the idiot's head than Sanji had a feeling the guy would even sleep on his bed with him, all the while still latching onto him like some damn koala.

Sanji fumed and gave up on cleaning the pot, he doesn't have enough patience for it today, and walked outside for a much needed smoke break. At least the guy didn't complain about his smoking so there's that. Though it would be nice not having to give a constant piggyback ride to the child-like adult.

It was a relatively calm and quiet but it was extremely foggy. It was one of those calm days that are meant to be disrupted. Sanji felt uneasy, as he stared at the calm waters and fog he couldn't help the passing thought that something big was going to happen. Luffy stayed silent as well, if it weren't for the random shift every now and then Sanji would have completely forgotten he was carrying the pirate captain.

"What is that?" Luffy suddenly asked at a normal noise level for once and pointed out into the middle of the fog.

Sanji looked in the direction of Luffy's pointed finger and squinted slightly before widening his eyes. Sure enough he could see a slightly darker patch of fog and it was huge and highly resembled a ship, as it came closer towards the restaurant Sanji could see a flag flapping against the wind. It was black and had a white skull on it and it sure as hell did not resemble a marine flag. Pirate ship then. Great, Sanji jinxed them, good going idiot. Soon the ship stopped right in front of the Baratie, dwarfing the small floating restaurant with its huge and immense size. However, the ship looked like it could have seen better days, that's for sure. It looked like it could fall apart any second.

Sanji swore. Now that he could see the flag in better detail, he could see that it was a skull with two hour glasses beside either side of the jolly roger. Don Krieg Pirates.

Sanji quickly made his way back inside the restaurant, ignoring the calls of confusion from Luffy asking why he was in such a hurry. He could already hear the screams and frantic murmurs of the others on the ship. Looks like they saw it too.

"That ship was huge! Looks like Gin came back to repay you." Luffy smiled down at Sanji, having also seen the flag.

"I don't think that's the case…" Sanji muttered and just as he made his way into the restaurant the front doors of the restaurant slammed opened. The whole place was silent, as they stared at a huge staggering form being supported by a significantly smaller form that Sanji recognised as Gin.

The much larger man had to be none other than Don Krieg himself. He was a huge man, towering well over everyone present and dwarfing Gin, who was supporting him. Yet despite his impressive build, the man looked so weak he could barely stand. He was wounded, covered in bandages in various places and he looked like he was having trouble breathing if the wheezing noises were anything to hint by.

This is Don Krieg? The dreadful pirate that everyone feared? He didn't look that threatening. No, he looked like…

"He looks like he's hungry." Luffy stated the obvious. Sanji stayed silent.

"Please…" Don Krieg finally spoke barely speaking over a whisper, taking in gasps of air between his sentences. "Can…I have some food…and water? If it's money I have it… as much as you want… just please…"

Kreig took in a deep wheezing breath. "I don't know how long it's been since the last time I've eaten…please…"

With that Don Krieg's knee buckled. Don Krieg, a feared pirate, collapsed onto the floor out of sheer exhaustion and starvation. Despite Gin's best efforts, Don Krieg could no longer stand up.

"Captain!" Gin cried out, kneeling beside the man he gritted his teeth and looked up pleadingly. "Please, help my captain! He hasn't eaten for days! He's going to starve to death at this rate!"

Sanji gave a quick sweep of the room but he already knew the results. Everyone was staring disdainfully at the two pirates, not moving a single inch from their original spot. It was obvious no one was going to help. Gin seems to know that too as he looked around helplessly.

Sanji's had enough. He turned around and briskly began walking up the stairs, with Luffy still hanging off his shoulders. Sanji could feel the confused vibes coming from Luffy but the younger man didn't say anything and opted to remain silent. Sanji only continued to make his way into the kitchen, unconsciously rolling up his sleeves and slipping off his gloves.

Sanji made his way into the kitchen and picked up his favourite kitchen knife. As Sanji was cooking, he, along with Luffy, could hear the cries of various people, some indigent, some scornful and one pleading. Sanji could even hear the annoying laugh of Patty's.

Luffy for once was not trying to steal the food, instead just observed Sanji finishing off the dish. Sanji tipped the food into a large metal bowl, not caring for presentation and grabbed a bottle of water. As the two made their way down they found Don Krieg had already resorted to kneeling and begging. Patty stood in front of Sanji, staring in disbelief at the pirate.

Without warning Sanji lashed out and kicked Patty out of the way. _Move Patty._ Of course the other chef didn't hear his thoughts but he wasn't in Sanji's path anymore. Luffy only made a small noise of surprise.

"S-Sanji-san!" Gin exclaimed, looking up when he heard the crash of the large cook.

The blonde chef didn't answer, he just walked over and placed the gathered food and water in front of the collapsed pirate.

"Yo, Gin!" Luffy smiled over Sanji's shoulder, sunny attitude completely out of place. "We've got food for your captain!"

Gin didn't answer, only staring with wide eyes but Don Krieg wasted no time on chowing down on the offered food, giving out a muffled thanks and just shoving food into his mouth with his bare hands.

"Oi, Sanji!" A sudden shout cried out that Sanji recognised as Carne's voice. "Take that food away from him! Do you know what kind of person he is?!"

Like always Sanji just tuned Carne out, only vaguely catching bits and pieces of how horrible the starving man was. Starving. That was the only thing that mattered to Sanji at the moment. No matter who it was, whether they are pirate, marine or a normal person, as long as they were hungry and in need of food Sanji will give it them. Consequences for his actions can be dealt with in the future. All Sanji knew is that someone needed food and he was going to give it to them.

Suddenly, Don Krieg slammed the empty bottle of water down, cutting Carne off. Sanji barely had anytime to register when the pirate swung his arm back and slammed it into Sanji. Would've slammed into Sanji. Luffy had thought fast, getting his two feet on the ground and quickly dropped to the ground taking Sanji with him. It still hurt but it was better than taking a giant fist to the gut.

Don Krieg's eyes flashed with anger and swung his leg back for a kick. This time Sanji thought fast, bringing his leg up and blocked the incoming kick with his steel enforced shoes. It protected them, however the force behind the kick had caused the two to fly back.

"Gomu-Gomu no…" Luffy took in a deep breath. "Mini-Fuusen!"

Instead of colliding with the wall Sanji felt himself coming in contact a bouncy surface, harmlessly falling onto the floor with a slump. He stared at Luffy in slight shock. The guy wasn't kidding when he said balloon. Luffy had sucked in a good amount of air, causing him to look like a human balloon and was five times larger than his original size.

"You said mini, does that mean…?" Sanji mumbled, unsure.

"Yep! I can make myself much bigger!" Luffy smiled, letting the air out with a small whoosh.

The whole restaurant was silently staring in horror at the previously dying pirate. Finally, one woman screamed and it was like a chain reaction. Soon the whole entire restaurant was empty of fleeing customers and the only ones that remained were the chefs of the Baratie, the Don Krieg pirates and Luffy.

Gin was the first person to snap out of the shocked silence when Don Krieg attacked. "Isn't this different from what you promised, Krieg?! You said you wouldn't harm anyone and would leave quietly! This man saved our lives, why did you-argh!" Gin gave out a pained cry. Don Krieg had gripped the smaller man by his shoulder and was dangling him in the air with a painfully tight grip.

"Yeah, the food was good." Krieg tightened his hold on Gin. A sickening crack echoed across the room as Gin's shoulder was dislocated, causing a chocked garble to sound from the man. Krieg grinned nastily. "I feel revived."

"Kid." Krieg aimed his attention at Luffy. "Those are some pretty interesting abilities you've got there. Did you eat a devil fruit?"

"Yeah, the Gomu-Gomu fruit." Luffy answered, completely unconcerned that he just revealed his abilities to an enemy.

"Rubber person? Interesting." Krieg muttered.

If Don Krieg seemed intimidating before he was downright terrifying now. The man could now stand to his full height and was looking around the restaurant while growling lowly. The pirate captain scanned the room silently, his natural glare freezing anyone that came in contact with it. A small smirk made its way onto the feared pirates face and Don Krieg carelessly threw Gin to the ground. Gin only slumped onto the floor, like a puppet whose strings has been cut.

"This is a nice restaurant." Krieg stated with a sickening grin. "I'm taking it!"

"W-what?" Carne asked, shocked.

 _So that's why you came._ Sanji clenched his fist and bit right through his ruined cigarette, mustering up his best glare at the large man.

"My ship's ruined. I want a new one. Leave after you've gathered all of your things." Krieg demanded. While everyone was still shocked silent Krieg pointed back in the direction of his ruined ship. "I have about 100 men still alive on that ship. All of them are starving and injured. If you know what's best for you, go prepare enough food for 100 men. Some have already died from starvation."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Carne cried out. "Why would we feed a bunch of pirates that's going to attack us later on?! We refuse!"

"Refuse? I think you misunderstood me." Krieg raised an eyebrow. "I'm not ordering; this is an order."

"Sanji-san, I'm sorry." Gin called out, catching Sanji's attention. "I didn't mean for this to happen."

As the rest of the chefs were still shocked, Sanji slowly got up and began walking towards the stairs. Luffy looked up at him curiously and the rest of the chefs seems to have noticed as well.

"Hey Sanji!" one of the chefs cried out. "Where are you going?!"

Sanji stared back coolly and lifted his hands. _"The kitchen. I need to prepare food for 100 men."_

Cries of shock were heard from all over the room. Luffy stared in confusion along with Gin. Krieg only observed the scene with a scowl.

As Sanji began to make his way up to the kitchen he came face to face with 3-meter-long utensils. Sanji didn't even blink. He just calmly lighted up another death stick.

"We won't let you." A slightly older chef growled at him. "We've had enough of your nonsense, at this rate you're going to destroy the restaurant!"

The blonde sous-chef gave each chef an even glare and stayed still, a small plan slowly formulating in his head. He smiled mockingly and pressed his neck to one of the giant knives. The chef that was holding onto it gave a jolt and moved back, preventing Sanji from cutting his neck. Sanji's glare softened slightly. _I knew it._

"Do it." Sanji spoke quietly. The cooks gave slight gasps of surprise. Sanji talked to them. Most can't even remember the last time Sanji had spoken other than the slight outburst of anger he had four days ago. Their weapons lowered slightly and they straightened a bit from their attack stance.

Sanji lifted his arms up in offering and bared his neck. "If you want to stop me, stop me." Sanji spoke more audibly this time. The chefs could only stare back in silence, it's like their roles has been switched; with Sanji doing the talking while the chefs stayed silent.

"I'm well aware that he is a feared pirate and a snake." Sanji continued, back facing Krieg who was beginning to smirk triumphantly, figuring out what Sanji was going to heed to his order but at the same time completely wrong with his assumption. Sanji inspected the dots on the ceiling to distract himself from speaking so much. "But that's not my business, feeding a hungry person is. I don't care what happens after their meal, it can be dealt with later. There are 100 men that are starving, some might have died as we speak. I am a chef that feeds people when they're hungry. Nothing more, nothing less."

Sanji stared ahead, eyes locked onto the stairs that would lead to the kitchen. "For a chef, isn't that enough?"

Sanji suddenly felt a sharp pain to the back of his head. He gave a slight grunt of pain and fell down. Only one person Sanji knew could hit that hard.

"Patty!" Carne cried out, always being the one that was more gentle with Sanji of the two. That wasn't saying much though. Not at all from a normal person's view.

"Sanji, you've always given food to the customers I've kicked out." Patty stated coldly, ignoring Carne and began walking towards the bottom of the stairs. "Don't think I haven't noticed, I'm not as dumb as you think."

Patty opened the small storage door under the staircase and began shuffling around. "I don't care who's wrong or who's right, but I do know I can't let anything happen to this restaurant."

"Oi, Don Krieg." Patty called out, his large build hiding whatever he has in his hands. "You know, pirates some to this floating restaurant everyday so we have to be prepared."

Don Krieg's face twitched.

Patty looked over his shoulder. "I hope you enjoyed your meal Krieg-san. How would you like…"

Patty suddenly turned around, armed with a large shrimp shaped bazooka. "Some metal for dessert?!"

"Syrup Meatball!" Patty cried out and pulled the trigger. A deafening boom sounded and it was like the world went in slow motion. Sanji's eyes widened as the missile rapidly approached the unmoving pirate.

The moment the missile had reached Krieg and evening louder boom sounded, blasting apart the front door from the sheer force. Smoke filled the restaurant and spilled though the open windows, covering the entirety of the ship in a smoke screen.

"Don!" Gin cried out, still gripping his arm and glared at Patty. With a determined grunt he forced his arm back in placed, giving only a small groan of pain.

"I think broke the door." Patty stated nonchalantly. "Owner's going to be mad."

"It's fine, you were protecting the restaurant." One of the chefs reassured.

Sanji stayed silent. _Idiots, all of them. He's not dead yet._

"What are we going to do with the rest of the pirates on the ship?" Carne asked.

"I dunno, maybe we should butter up the ship and cook it!" Patty laughed, hefting the large weapon onto his shoulder.

"That sounds delicious… Stupid Cook." A very unwelcome and familiar voice sounded out from the clearing smoke. The chefs stepped back in shock. There stood Krieg, clad in an enormous armour and pointing some very dangerous looking machine guns at the chefs.

"Giving me such an _awful_ dessert, how can you call yourselves chefs, huh?!" With a last cry of rage, Krieg unleashed an onslaught of bullets. Cries of pain were heard throughout the restaurant. Some chefs were heavily injured however, thanks to their past experiences, no one had died.

"Do as I say!" Krieg shouted. "I'm the strongest man there is! No one disobeys me! When I ask for food you get me some!"

… _he sounds like a child…_ Sanji thought as the oh-so-feared pirate continued to ramble. A familiar clunking noise caught Sanji's attention and he looked up to see Zeff walking down with a large bag. Sanji moved out the older chef's way, staying completely silent.

"Here is enough food to feed 100 men." Zeff dumped the bag in front of Krieg. The pirate became silent, face going back to its neutral expression.

"Owner Zeff!" The rest of the chefs cried out in disbelief.

"Z-Zeff?" Krieg's eyes widened before smirking. "I see, so you're still alive huh?"

"It would be rather concerning right now if I wasn't. Go feed your men." Zeff grumbled and levelled Krieg with one of his famous glares. Krieg only laughed, unaffected by the older man at all.

"I've heard of you. You were known for being both the captain and chef of your ship and was considered one the greatest pirates at that time. Red Leg Zeff." Kreig grinned maliciously. "The pirate who specializes in no hands combat. His feet were known to destroy boulders and leave dents in iron, always stained red from the blood of his enemies, earning him his nickname."

Krieg stared at Zeff's peg leg in disdain. "I heard that you lost your leg in an accident. I never would've thought it was true. Now that you've lost that oh-so-precious leg of yours you can no longer fight anymore."

Sanji flinched.

"But this is great!" Krieg laughed. "Once a great pirate that was feared by many is now only a measly chef on a failing restaurant!"

With that Kreig threw his head back and laughed. It was a horrible sound filled with mockery and malice. Sanji could feel that awful laugh filling his head as he clenched his hands into fists.

"While I may have been captain of a notorious pirate ship but my first job will always be chef. As long as I have my two hands to cook I couldn't care less if I had one or two peg legs." Zeff emphasized his words by holding out his hands, worn from many years of working in the kitchen but still intact and strong as a youth's. Zeff's words soothed Sanji a bit but the usual linger of guilt was still there. "Besides, should I be hearing words like that from someone who travelled to the Grand Line and ran back here with his tail between his legs? Mr I-Couldn't-Conquer-The-Grand-Line?"

Kreig immediately stopped laughing and gave a harsh glare to the older man. "What did you say?!"

"No way! Even Kreig couldn't conquer the Grand Line?!" One of the chef's cried out in shock. Sanji narrowed his vision on Gin. The man had been still for nearly the whole exchange, however now he was trembling all over and had his head in his hands, as if trying to ward of unseeable demons. _What kind of place is that ocean?_

Krieg growled. "True, I didn't get through the Grand Line, but behold for am I not Don Krieg, the greatest?! I was strong enough to make it through. I had enough men, enough ambition…the only thing I lacked was knowledge and information. That was the only reason why I failed."

"Red Leg Zeff, I know for a fact that you're the only man who's come back alive from the Grand Line. You must have kept a journal of your journeys and voyages of the Grand Line. So hand it over!" Kreig cried out, banging his fist against his armour.

"Oh, Old man! You've been to the Grand Line?!" Luffy asked impressed and in awe.

"Kinda." Zeff replied, mind filled with flashbacks of a storm, sinking ships and one bratty kid.

"Indeed I do have a journal; however, it's not only mine but the rest of my crewmates as well." Zeff spoke towards Krieg. "It is far too valuable to be handed to the likes of you."

Kreig scowled. "Then I just take it forcibly. Once I have that journal I will make another pirate fleet and set sail to find the One Piece. Then _I'll_ become the next Pirate King!"

Zeff glared, unimpressed at the large pirate but stared curiously when the straw hat boy walked in front of him.

"Hold it right there!" The kid cried out, pointing accusingly at the pirate. "The one who's going to the be the Pirate King will be _me_!"

Luffy's outburst had caused the previously silent restaurant into a sudden uproar. "Waiter boy!" "Get out of here!" "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

Sanji only widened his eyes.

"Waiter boy what are you thinking?! You're no match for him!" Patty cried out in disbelief.

"I can't do that. Leaving things as the way they are." Luffy replied with a big grin.

"What did you say, boy?" Kreig asked threateningly. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that…"

"You don't have to." Luffy shrugged, completely calm. "I'm just stating the facts."

"I'm the one who's going to travel through the Grand Line and find the One Piece!" Luffy stated boldly.

Kreig eyes gleamed dangerously. "This is not funny brat! It may have been lack of information but a fleet of 5000 men were defeated in just seven days. Do you think this is a game?!"

"Of course not. What, do you think it is? Are you an idiot?" Luffy replied confused, completely oblivious to the shocked and terrified expressions of everyone else present. Kreig only grew more furious if the multiple veins popping on his forehead said anything.

"Sorry, but you're type of humour is the type that I hate the most." Kreig gritted out. "How about I just kill you here and now?"

"Nah, I'd rather kick your butt." Luffy grinned and lowered into a battle stance.

Krieg's blood pressure spiked. "Fine if you want to die so badly…"

The pirate's shoulder blades rolled back to reveal two large and menacing machine guns. The moment they came into view, the rest of the chefs immediately began to scramble away, already experiencing how deadly they can be.

"Starting a fight Luffy? Mind if I join?" A voice called out above caught Sanji's attention from the menacing barrels of the guns. He looked up and saw the green haired man and long nosed man from before.

Sanji frowned. _That guy's knees a shaking pretty badly, I can hear his knees knocking all the way down here._

"W-we don't have to i-if you w-want." The guy called out with false bravado, his stuttering voice giving away how terrified he actually is. Sanji sweat dropped. _I know your scared but can't you do a better job at hiding it?_

"Zoro, Usopp, you dropped by!" Luffy called out in surprise. "It's fine, you can sit down and watch."

"I-I see." Usopp continued to stammer and ramble. "Well if you d-don't need us than n-nothing else to do! I-I'll help you if you still need it!"

 _You're digging your own grave._ Sanji thought, unimpressed. Seems like Zoro had the same thought as well, knocking Usopp completely of his feet.

"Shut up and stay still." Zoro grumbled.

Suddenly Krieg began to laugh. "Those are your men? Are they all you have?"

"What are you talking about? There's still two more!" Luffy frowned and help up two fingers to emphasise his point.

 _Stop counting me, damn it!_ Sanji screamed in his head, sending his best death glare towards the teen.

Krieg scowled and retracted his guns, surprising the people one the ship. "I'll take care of you guys later. Right now I need to feed my men."

Kreig hefted the huge bag of food onto his shoulder. "All I want is the journal and this ship. If you still want your lives, then leave before I come back. However, of you really want say goodbye to this world, it'll be a pain but I'll send you there!"

With that he exited the restaurant, his coat billowing behind him.

As soon as Don Kreig left, Gin bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Sanji-san. I never would have thought things would have turned out this way…"

"I don't need apologies from you, fool!" Zeff suddenly interjected. "We're only cooks on this ship. We feed anyone who comes along."

"Owner!" Patty protested. "Why are you siding with Sanji? He's the reason why we're in this mess!"

Cries of agreement from the other chefs sounded out. "That's right!" "It's his fault!" "He's the reason this restaurant is going to be ruined!"

"Shut yer shitty traps, you stupid eggplants!" Zeff screamed out, silencing all protests. "Do you know how horrible it is to nearly starve to death? What's it like to feel your body eating away at your insides because it has nothing else to gain energy from? You don't know the first thing about how terrifying it is to be out in this vast sea with no food or water and how terrible that feeling is. The difference between you and Sanji is that he's experienced that feeling!"

As Zeff was screaming Sanji felt the familiar pang of hunger. With a grit of his teeth he quickly lit a cigarette and took a deep drag feeling the familiar toxin calm himself. As he moved the cigarette towards his mouth again he stopped. The death stick was trembling. It only took a second for Sanji to figure out that his hands were shaking. Sanji gave a humourless huff and crushed the cigarette. Covering his eye his hand, ruffling his fringe slightly, Sanji smiled to himself bitterly. He made a slight growl at how weak he was being and clenched his hands together to stop them from trembling. _A cook's hands should never shake._

As the confused murmurs rang out Zoro spared a glance at the mute cook and was just in time to see the blonde clench his gloved fists tightly. A small flicker of emotion gleamed in Zoro's eye before it went back to being a blank glass pane.

"Instead of dilly-dallying here all day, leave already!" Zeff suddenly called out, efficiently silencing the chefs one again. "Well? What are you waiting for?"

"I'm staying here to fight!" Patty exclaimed with confidence, breaking the tense silence. "I'm won't let them just trample all over me!"

"Me too! This is where I work and I have no other place to go! I'm staying right here to fight!" Another chef cried out. Soon familiar cries emitted from the other chefs, as they picked themselves up and readied their weapons.

"Stop this nonsense!" Gin shouted, shocked and in disbelief at the reckless cooks. "Did you not see how strong our captain is? Going up against him means a sure death!"

 _Hmph._ Sanji got up and began walking over towards the kneeling pirate. Like a wave, the other chefs parted and cleared a pathway for him. Either that or get kicked in the face was a lesson that they learned a long time ago.

Sanji gave a cursory glance at one of the fallen tables and after checking there was no damage he gently placed one a polished dress shoe on the leg. With one small flick of the ankle, the table flipped back up with Sanji steadying it in one smooth move. It was like the man defied gravity itself.

After patting off non-existent dust Sanji made his way over to Gin and leaned down until his mouth was right next to Gin's ear.

"A cook's job is to feed the hungry, however…" Sanji gripped Gin's shoulder threateningly. "Now that your captain's full he's nothing more than a nuisance that will meet the sole of my foot."

"Don't come crying if I mess up one of your pals. I won't let anything take away this restaurant whether it's human or not." Sanji growled softly, gaze darkening considerably. "That includes you, Gin."

It was only after Gin gave an audible gulp and Sanji saw a dead of sweat drop down the other man's chin did the blonde chef leave the man alone, satisfied that he got his message across.

"You're such a kind soul, threatening to kill the man who you saved." Patty snorted when Sanji made his way back. The young prodigy chef only flipped the man off.

"See, didn't I tell you he was something!" Luffy exclaimed happily, pointing in the direction of Sanji.

"Who cares about him right now, we need to get out of here!" Usopp wailed down at his captain.

"Calm down, even if he is Don Krieg he's all battered up right now." Zoro interjected, casually leaning against the wall. He stared at the blond chef that caught his attention since their first introduction with even more interest and gave Luffy a pointed look. If he noticed the guy said nothing, attention already moving onto Gin.

"Oi, Gin, you said you knew nothing about the Grand Line, right?" Luffy's question made the pirate look up. "But you _have_ been there, right?"

Gin's eyes shadowed and he looked every bit like a man who has faced his most feared nightmares and worse. "It's the truth that I don't know anything. What happened on the seventh day on the Grand Line, I don't even know if it was a dream or a reality… but just one man… defeated over 50 fleets!"

"WHAT?!" The whole entire crowd shouted in horror. Just one man defeated 50 ships?! That was impossible!

"If that storm hadn't come along our main ship would have perished along with the others, even now I still don't know how many have died or survived. I don't even want to remember it!" Gin gripped at his headband, trembling from head to toe. "Those eyes… they were like a hawk's!"

At the man's words Zoro lost all of his calm demeanour and leaned over the railing of the stares. "What did you just say?!"

"…I believe the man you speak of is known as Hawk Eyes." Zeff spoke up. "Your description of his eyes are a dead giveaway, sounds like something he could do."

"Hawk Eyes…" Zoro spoke in disbelief, the metal gripped in his fist waning a little. Luffy looked up curiously at his first mate.

"You know this guy, Zoro?" Luffy asked. Like a rubber band that's been snapped Zoro went back to his calm state from before.

"That's man I've been looking for. He's the reason why I set sail." Zoro answered, taking in deep breathes and closed his eyes. Luffy gave a small hum in understanding.

"What did you do that made him this angry?" Luffy asked Gin, frowing slightly. "Did you steal his meat or something?"

For a short moment Gin was dumb folded, while the rest of the restaurant just stared in disbelief at the sheer stupidity of the suggestion.

"Maybe you interrupted his nap?" Zeff suggested and now the chefs aimed their stares at the founder of the Baratie with even more disbelief.

"Bullshit!" Gin cried out on outrage. "He destroyed 50 pirate fleets!"

"I was only saying a suggestion." Zeff pointed out. _More like the truth._ "Stuff like this happens all the time on the Grand Line. You just had really bad luck and timing that's all."

"What kind of place is that?" Usopped mumbled, putout.

"A place where anything can happen." Zoro answered. With that Usopp began to cry rivers down his face.

"Luffy! Please we can't go there!" Usopp cried before staring down at his silent captain in confusion. "Luffy?"

"Whoo! I'm pumped! I was hoping Grand Line would have things like this!" Luffy shouted in excitement, pumping his fist into the air with a huge smile on his face.

"Care about your safety a bit more!" Usopp cried out in despair.

"Well, now I know for sure my destination is the Grand Line." Zoro gave a wicked grin, completely ignoring Usopps whimpers. "I'm going to meet that man there."

Sanji gave them all unimpressed stares and huffed with slight annoyance. _These are the types of people who are eager to die. Morons._

Zeff's moustache twitched slightly, seeing the expression on the eggplant's face. It was the perfect unimpressed face. Probably thinking they were all morons or idiots most likely, but there was a slight hint of... longing. Zeff gave himself a small smirk. _So there's still hope for you, huh? Shitty Eggplant._

"Hey, do you know the situation we're in right now?!" Patty asked, for once being slightly rational. "Don Krieg's ship is right outside! Talk after we're out of this mess!"

* * *

Sanji blew out a cloud of smoke from a freshly lit cigarette and he watched with half lidded eyes, as the tendrils of smoke disappeared into the sea breeze. A heavy clump of boots caught his attention but he made no acknowledgement to the swordsman that now stood beside him. as Sanji slowly worked his way through his cancer stick, a surprisingly comfortable silence settled between the two. His fringe hiding his shifting eye, Sanji glanced over at the swordsman. He had that _look_. The one that Sanji and the Old Man gets when they talk about…

Sanji turned his head away slightly and watched as the spent cigarette fall into the ocean. The previously lit cherry extinguished immediately the moment it made contact with the salty blue waters. Fire against water. It's obvious who wins.

"Why don't you talk?" Zoro broke the silence. Sanji glanced over but returned his attention to the inky depths. After a moment of silence Sanji took out his pen and and notepad and wrote something down.

 _-I don't see how it's your business, Algae Brain.-_

Zoro frowned trying to decipher the cursive script, causing Sanji to snort slightly at the dumb face he was making. When Zoro finally finished he immediately scowled at Sanji.

"You sure are rude for someone who caters to people every day, Curlybrow." Zoro sneered.

Sanji felt his temper flare and he immediately began scribbling away.

 _-Better than a moron who jumps headfirst into death. Both you and your crewmates are, chasing after impossible dreams. You might as well just have a neon sign stuck to your forehead saying you're a fool.-_

Zoro folded his arms and levelled Sanji with a healthy glare. "I'd rather go out with a bang than whither my life away. When I decided to become the greatest swordsman in the world I have already threw away my life."

Zoro stood up straight from where he was leaning against the railing and walked right into Sanji's space. "The only one who's allowed to call me a fool is me."

Sanji twitched slightly at the determined gleam in the green-brown eyes. It was a look he was familiar with however, he just looked off to the side with a tch and made his way back into the restaurant, leaving a rather smug swordsman against the railing.

Zoro smirked. Unknown to Sanji, when Zoro looked into the strange eye he saw a small spark. Luffy, despite being an airhead, choses his crewmates for a reason. That small spark just proved that statement even more. Zoro placed his hand over his white sword out of habit and followed the blond chef inside.

As the Strawhat Pirates and the chefs of the Baratie prepared for battle, a large boom sounded out, shaking the ship, ripping cries of surprise and fright from their mouths. Sanji looked out the window and a small sound of shock escaped his lips. The giant ship that was a good ten times larger than the Baratie has been destroyed clean in half. Sanji stared in shock, not even noticing the stumbles and tables crashing around the ship, caused by the aftershock of the destroying of the other ship. Sanji jumped into action when the cook beside him screamed in his ear to get someone to lift the anchor. Immediately Sanji jumped up and ran outside on the railing to see the ship falling apart taking along some pirates with it.

"Merry! We need to check on Merry!" A familiar cry caught Sanji's attention and he looked over, seeing the long nose stumbling along with his ship mates in tow.

"Nami, Johnny, Yosaku! Where are you?" Zoro called out.

"ANIKI!" Tearful cries rang out and Sanji looked over the railing curiously and was surprised to see two weird men floating in the water with tears running down their faces.

"Yosaku, Johnny! Are you alright?" Luffy exclaimed appearing beside Sanji.

"Where's the ship? What happened to Nami?" Zoro appeared on Sanji's other side, the name of his goddess immediately catching his attention as he looked down urgently at the two weird men.

"She's… I'm sorry aniki! She left and took all the treasure and the ship with her!" The one with sunglasses and a tattoo cried.

"W-WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" The three newbie pirates cried out in shock. Only Sanji remained calm but he gained a sad look. Of course she stole from them, she's a thief who steals from pirates. But from what she told him before Sanji thought…

 _Ma Chaton, when are you going to stop doing this to yourself?_ Sanji thought sadly.

Soon both men were hauled out of the ocean, dripping wet and catching their breath back. When they finished recounting the whole story Zoro punched the wall.

"Damn, she took advantage of us!" Zoro growled in fury. Sanji clenched his teeth.

"That ship was a gift from Kaya!" Usopp growled along with him. Sanji nearly bit his tongue.

"Hey I can see it! It's the Going Merry!" Luffy exclaimed looking out into the distance. "Johnny, Yosaku, you still have your ship right?"

"Well yeah." One of the Weird Duo replied.

"Ok, Zoro, Usopp I want you to go after her and bring her back." Luffy ordered, acting the most captain like since Sanji's met him.

"Just leave it." Zoro muttered darkly. "There's no need to go after _that_ woman."

Sanji felt his hackles rise and he glared in anger at the green haired man. _If this how you talk of her then you deserve to be stolen from. You don't even know half of what's she's been through. Scum like you are not worthy of her high words about you!_

"No! I only want her as my navigator!" A childish cry broke Sanji from his angry thoughts and he stared up in surprise at the young pirate captain. Zoro only stared back at his captain before sighing and slapping his hand against his forehead.

"Fine. What a pain-in-the-ass captain." Zoro groaned and Usopp's shoulders slumped as if he long had given up on fighting against anything that Luffy says. Sanji only stared in surprise before a small smile tugged at his lips.

Soon the Weird Duo bought their smaller ship towards the Baratie. Zoro glanced back at Luffy.

"Oi, Luffy you coming?" He asked.

"Nope. I still need to finish off some business here!" Luffy answered hand dragging his hat over his eyes.

"Fine." Zoro answered back but just as he was about to board the small ship he froze and looked to the side. Sanji could see his pupils dilating and sweat beginning to drip down his face. frowning Sanji looked to see what caused the normally stoic swordsman to still and his eyes widened.

Sailing right through the cleared pathway where the ships' been split in half was a small coffin sized boat with one lone man sitting in it, leaning casually against a giant cross.

"Zoro? Who the heck is that?" Luffy asked confused, also noticing the change in behaviour of his first mate.

"That's the man I've been searching for. Hawk Eyes Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the world." Zoro gained a feral grin.

Sanji could see a pirate shouting angrily at the calm man and bit back whatever noise of shock he was going to make when the pirate shot at the swordsman however what Sanji thought was a giant cross was actually a giant black _sword_. What surprised him even more is seeing Zoro already on one half of a sunken ship.

Sanji, being too far to hear what they were talking about only observed the scene with shocked silence when the younger swordsman wrapped a dark green bandanna around his head and unsheathed his swords, clamping the white between his teeth. It honestly looked ridiculous seeing someone trying to fight with three swords but somehow the man looked damn near demonic.

After a few exchanges between the two swordsmen Sanji saw the greatest swordsman bring out the smallest dagger he's ever seen in his life and seeing the obvious tensing of Zoro the man was planning on fighting with that. Even not being a swordsman himself, Sanji could feel himself getting agitated at how much the man was looking down on Zoro. Not a second later the green haired man charged, all three swords drawn out and advanced quickly towards the other unmoving swordsman.

*clang*

Sanji stared in shocked silence along with everyone else. Three fully sized words that were wielded with obvious great swordsmanship were stopped. All three of them stopped by one small little dagger. Zoro was frozen stiff. Soon an onslaught of attacks were issued by Zoro. One after another, each one was either swiftly dodged or blocked by the small toy.

 _No way. there's got to be a limit of the differences in skill!_ Sanji thought observing the fight with wide eyes. _But the difference is obvious… it's like a giant against a small baby._

As Zoro issued a final attack the other swordsman finally took offense. Breaking completely through the other man's attack the green haired man was stabbed right near the heart. It was like time had stopped. After a few moments Mihawk stepped back and withdrew his small toy sword.

"Kid, announce your name!" Sanji heard faintly.

As Zoro positioned himself into an attack stance the greatest swordsman in the world drew the giant sword that was resting on his back.

"Roronoa Zoro!" Sanji heard the man cry out before spinning his swords rapidly as Mihawk charged with impressive speed. A split second later both men stopped. All were holding their breath to see who had won. Pirate Hunter Zoro or Hawk Eyes Mihawk?

Suddenly two of Zoro's swords shattered and an arc of blood spurted from his torso. A few seconds of horrified silence passed when Zoro rose up and stood in front of Mihawk with his arms wide open. Sanji stared in mystified horror at the grin on the bleeding man's face. A second later the other swordsmen swung his sword down in a diagonal across Zoro's chest, Zoro made no move to defend himself. A giant arc of blood flew into the air.

"ZORO!" Luffy's scream was pure anger and anguish. The others weren't any better, the Weird Duo were full on wailing, with tears running down their cheeks. Usopp's naturally darker skin looked nearly pale as Sanji's, as he stared with wide eyes.

Sanji was shocked to the core. It was all he could do, staring with wide eyes as Zoro fell back into the ocean. When he heard the splash he snapped out of it and gritted his teeth together. He pushed his way through the startled chefs, discarded his shoes and jacket and dived into the ocean, taking a deep breath right before he smoothly disappeared under the blue surface. _That idiot! That man is the world's greatest! The result was obvious from the start! Why? Why? WHY?! Why don't you just abandon your ambitions? It's simple!_

Sanji looked around frantically among the floating debris before catching a flash of green from the corner of his eye. He snapped his head around and swam as fast as he could towards the quickly sinking man but abruptly stopped about a few metres away. Sanji looked in horror around him. The usual beautiful blue that Sanji loved with all his heart was stained red with the man's blood. His ocean was being stained, his _home_ was being stained. _Red. Eliminate. Destroy. EAT._ Sanji's eyes dilated and he started to bare his teeth, his blood rushing in his ears as his more primal instincts took over. _No!_ When Sanji realised what he was thinking he quickly banged his head on a nearby floating piece of wood, creating a small cut on his forehead as Sanji's own blood swelled and spilled into the ocean. _Snap out of it!_

Sanji quickly shook his head and swam closer towards the dying swordsman. The man was slowly growing unconscious and he wasn't breathing, mouth slightly open with small air bubbles escaping. Without thinking, Sanji crushed his lips against the other's and began blowing air into the green haired man's lungs.

Zoro was on the verge of passing out and all he could feel is pain. He could feel his vision blackening when he suddenly felt pressure on his lips and his mouth being pried open. Zoro stared as his vision began to focus and saw a soft gold. But then a few moments later his eyes widened when he realised the gold was actually the blonde chef's hair and Sanji had his mouth pressed against his own. Zoro was stunned but when Sanji continuously blew air into his lungs the swordsman quickly got the idea and took the air gratefully. The two stayed like that for a few more seconds, sharing the air before Sanji finally separated his lips from Zoro's and swam apart. Zoro found himself missing the close contact he had with the other man but quickly rid his head of those thoughts. There are much more pressing issues right now.

Sanji switched to gills but he kept the air in his mouth to fake that he was holding his breath. He already risked it by jumping into bloodstained water and now that he knew he could control himself he going to keep hiding his fishman parts to himself.

Sanji quickly wrapped his arms around the injured man's waist and began to swim upwards. The other tried to swim by himself but in the end he just kicked at the water feebly, the loss of blood draining on him.

"Pah!" The two broke the surface with a loud gasp from Zoro. As the injured swordsman greedily sucked in air, Sanji floated beside him with the other man's arm slung around his slender shoulders. When Zoro had finally caught his breath they slowly swam towards the Weird Duo, whom were desperately rowing the small ship towards them. When Sanji safely got Zoro onto the boat he looked over at the greatest swordsman in the world who was addressing the near unconscious Zoro.

"My name is Dracule Mihawk! Find your true self, learn more about the world and become stronger!" Mihawk exclaimed, Luffy standing quietly beside him. "No matter how long it will take I'll wait for you in my strongest form. Surpass this sword, surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!"

Sanji stared. He's been doing way too much of it lately but he couldn't help it, stupefied into silence byt the people who suddenly surround him.

"Aniki! He's ALIVE!" Cries of relief caught Sanji attention and he looked over at Zoro. The man, despite his injuries had lifted his white sword up in the air.

"Luffy, can you hear me?" Zoro shouted to the best of his ability.

"Yeah!" Luffy called back.

"Sorry for worrying you. If I don't become the world's greatest swordsman you'd be in a dilema, right?" Sanji noticed with shock the man was streaming tears down his face. He hacked up a mouthful of blood, ignoring the cries of the others he continued shouting.

"I will…I will never," Zoro brought his hand up against his face. "LOSE AGAIN!"

"Until I defeat him and become the world's greatest swordsman, I will never be defeated again!" Zoro continued to shout, Sanji kneeling beside him with shock clear in his black-blue eye. "Any problems with that, Pirate King!"

Sanji was dumb folded. The man had been nearly cleaved clean in half and lost. So why was he smiling?!

"None!" Luffy's answer caused Sanji to snap his head in the direction of the straw hat teen. The teen was also smiling. Sanji felt his brain short circuit.

What the hell are wrong with these people?!

* * *

 **Hahaha I'm dead *nurses sore hands and tired eyes before dropping dead***

 ***soul slips out of dead body* I hope you enjoyed that long chapter! I'm sorry this was late! *stares at dead body* I'll deal with that later.**

 **I want challenge you guys to figure out what Sanji called Nami in his thoughts! And no cheating so no using google translate! The answer will be revealed next chapter!**

 **Please leave a review!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey ya'll! *gets pelted with rotten vegetables and eggs by a hoard of angry screaming people***

 ***calmly runs away* So onto chapter 5! Yay! Thank you so much who have reviewed, favorited and followed and continued your support for this story! I'm sorry for being an ass and not having frequent updates but life sucks but I'm holidays now! So new chapters will be coming soon!**

… **Also, I'm back! Who misses me?! …*crickets in the background***

 **Ahem, onto the chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: The story One Piece belongs to Oda-sensei. The treasure One Piece will belong to Luffy. I have no chance of owning either, if I tried Oda-sensei will sue me and Luffy will beat me up.**

* * *

 _Well._ Sanji shook out his wet hair. _After that fight, saving that shitty swordsman, seeing the greatest swordsman disappearing with another explosion, Luffy stretching himself onto the boat and the nearly dying swordsman and longnose dude leave, the actual fight is finally going to begin…_

 _Ugh._

"Hey, Old Man!" Luffy called out dangling upside down from the railing, some chefs were still staring at his arms in weirded out curiosity. Zeff looked down and gave a grunt in answer. "If I beat this guy up does that mean you'll let me off the hook and I pay back the rest of my debt?"

"Do what you please." Zeff snorted. "In fact it couldn't have made me happier. If I let you work at my restaurant for a year, it'll be in shambles."

Sanji paused in the middle of unsuccessfully trying to dry his hair and glared at Zeff. _That is the understatement of understatements, you senile geezer._

"Great!" Luffy cheered, patting his hat out of habit.

"…Are you serious about becoming the Pirate King?" Zeff asked the young teen. Sanji gave a small snort and went back to get the worst of the water out of his hair, listening with half an ear.

"Yeah, of course!" Luffy answered within a heartbeat. "I WILL become the Pirate King."

Sanji wasn't sure whether to envy the complete confidence Luffy had in himself or think that the man was being stupid and delusional. Zeff seems to think the former.

"I've met a lot of people who bark more than they can bite." Zeff grinned slightly. "But it's rare to see someone with this much confidence in themselves."

"I heard you were a great pirate Old Man! Were you after the One Piece as well?" Luffy asked excitedly. Sanji halted in his actions and looked back at the geezer behind his fringe.

"I have long forgotten about the past." Zeff answered back, staring out to sea. "Right now I'm just the head chef of my own restaurant. That's good enough for me."

 _Liar._ Sanji thought. _You remember absolutely everything, don't you?_

A sudden war cry from the remains of the destroyed ship caught the attention of the owners of Baratie. Sanji stared at the pirates lifting their various weapons in the air as a triumphant cry rang out. Clearly they gained their confidence back. Just peachy.

"We won't let you have this ship!" Patty and Carne cried out in unison, jumping into a contraption that was connected to the main ship. "No matter the cost we will never hand it over! ...How do you use this again?"

Sanji resisted the urge to face palm. _Fucking idiots. At this rate the restaurant will become a battlefield._

Sanji brushed a hand against the wall of the Baratie and memories from the past replayed in his mind. A raging storm, the cruel and cold sea, the rock, the fear, the _hunger_.

' _I was thinking about a restaurant on the sea… If I'm saved and I make it, I'm going to bet the rest of my life on a huge floating sea restaurant.'_

"Go into the control room and open the 'Fin'." Sanji instructed one of the chefs.

"You… what- the 'Fin'… you want to give the enemy an area to fight?" The chef stuttered, confused by the sudden strange request from their usually mute sous-chef. Zeff stared straight ahead at Krieg.

"Where else do we fight?" Sanji asked rhetorically, patting the blue wall fondly. "We can't let the inside of the restaurant be ruined and turned into a battlefield. These are pirates, it's going to be a bloodbath."

"Plus, the Shitty Geezer will never shut up if we fight inside and make a mess." Sanji added quietly, his fringe shadowing half of his face.

"Said something, you little shit?" Zeff asked in monotone, obviously listening from the start.

"Yeah! I said you never shut up!" Sanji answered with fake annoyance before turning his attention back to the other chef. "Go."

Mumbling a small noise of confused understanding, the chef ran off towards the control room.

"AAAARGH!" Sanji turned at the noise of several screams. Luffy had already knocked out most of the underlings and the other chefs were cheering him on. Sanji smirked and tugged on his tie, loosening it.

 _They mess with the Baratie; they mess with me._ Sanji thought and was about to join the fight when he was suddenly stopped.

"Wait, Eggplant."

Sanji looked over at Zeff with a questioning gaze. The old chef was observing the young pirate captain fight with a strange look in his eye. "I want you to observe how he fights."

The half-fishman raised an eyebrow with confusion but nonetheless watched Luffy fight. The guy seemed to be using his strange abilities to his advantage, using the long reach to knock out more _targets_.

Sanji shook his head, _old habits die hard, huh? Not_ targets _, enemies._

The blonde chef continued observing the fight. It looks like the guy uses normal fighting techniques with a strange twist with his stretching abilities that should look stupid but surprisingly effective. The guy already knocked the majority of the pirates into the water and destroyed more of the already in smithereens ship.

A slight creaking noise and the surprised cries of the pirates caught Sanji's attention as he waited patiently for the 'Fin' to lift up. It was stupid really, the name. The 'Fin' was just a hidden large platform used for days when the Baratie had to host huge events like parties and weddings. Since the Baratie itself was supposed to resemble a giant fish, little ten-year-old Sanji said the platforms resembled weird fins without thinking and the name stuck. A place that has a stupid name, held parties and happy memories is going to become a battlefield. How horrifyingly lovely.

With a final bang of the platforms locking into place Sanji walked onto the now much larger space and stared head on at the sneering face of Don Krieg. Sanji contemplated for a bit before shrugging and grinned full on, startling the pirates that were closer and could see his teeth in more detail.

"Why don't we fight to our heart's content, pirates?" Sanji asked, showing off every bit of his deadly whites. Sanji noted with some satisfaction a few pirates swimming away from him in fear. Don Krieg only smiled maliciously back.

"I see, so the restaurant won't be ruined." Krieg sneered with a dangerous glint in his eye. "How very convenient for us when we take it… I might take you along with the ship and journal, you'll make an interesting possession."

Sanji recoiled in disgust. Not the first time he met someone who had worse intentions then the usual hatred he got. Some want to sell him, some want to capture him for experiments and some… are just sick.

"You're not taking anything." One of the chefs growled. "Don't underestimate us! We're fighting cooks!"

As if right on que, there was another clanking sound and the fish head that once acted as the Baratie's figurehead, suddenly detached itself from the large ship and turned into a strange contraption that was shaped like a real fish. It looked ridiculously small compared to when it was attached to the Baratie, not to mention kind of dumb looking and not intimidating at all. Just like any other form of weapon the restaurant had. All with dumb names that was made up by ten-year-old Sanji.

"Get ready! Baratie's sea weapon 'Sabagashira No.1'!" Patty screamed out from within the fish.

"Those that are afraid to die grab your shoes and run!" Carne added.

Silence. So far the only one that was impressed at all was Luffy, but he doesn't count. Everyone else was just staring at the unintimidating fish. Sanji was silently kicking his ten-year-old self in his head for giving the weapon such a dumb name.

Well, at least it makes a satisfactory weapon.

"Fire!" Patty screamed and a sudden onslaught of booms and explosions were heard. Surprised screams tore themselves from their owners' throats as they were once again jostled around in the sea. The rest of the cooks were cheering as Patty and Carne continued firing at the pirates that were desperately swimming away from the crazy chefs of Baratie. Soon Patty and Carne were aiming at Don Krieg.

"Take this, Krieg!" Patty shouted. "Behold, the power of Baratie's sea weapon!"

 _Schick. Boom._

Three bazookas aimed and fired, hitting Krieg square on with a blinding flash of light and explosions. Silence filled the air. Did they get him?

"O-oi! What's going on? Why aren't we moving?" Carne voice called out franticly.

Oblivious to the two confused chefs, everyone else was just staring in amazed horrification. The reason why the fish-boat wasn't moving was because Don Krieg had managed to stop the ship with a single hand. Luffy gave a low whistle at the display of power.

"I am Don Krieg." Krieg growled, veins popping on his forehead. "The man who will conquer the world's sea!"

Sanji snorted. _Like the Ocean will ever heed to the likes of you._

Krieg tightened his grip on the Sabagashira. "I don't have time for games!"

With a mighty roar of rage Krieg slowly starting lifting the boat that was at least twenty times bigger than him.

"What kind of strength is this?!" Patty screamed, getting a glimpse at what was causing sea weapon to stop moving. Kreig only gave a grunt as he threw the fish over his shoulder, like a child who has lost interest in his toy, the sea weapon flew uselessly in the air… straight towards the Baratie.

"The restaurant is going to be destroyed!" One of the chefs screamed in distress and terror.

Cries of shock were heard all around, with Sanji in the midst of it all. The blonde chef calmly took out new cigarette, lit it with a small snap of his zippo, took a deep breath and…

 _Smack._

The sound of steel enforced shoes hitting wood sliced through the air of shocked cries. As the chefs watched in relief while the Don Krieg Pirates watched in shock there was a stupefied observation of the strength that Sanji showed.

Sanji landed with a soft thump and blew out a cloud of smoke, the Sabagashira landing with a crash into the 'Fin' beside him. Sanji tched at the damage. Oh god just how out of practice was he? That was a pathetic kick. The Sabagashira was supposed to land in the water, not on the 'Fin'. They already had enough damage repair charges to pay, no need to add more. Sanji could literally feel the old man's eyes drilling into his head, absolutely unimpressed as well. He wasn't the only one.

"Sanji, you bastard!" Patty shouted angrily, jumping out from the debris along with an equally furious Carne. Oh looks like they're unharmed. Yay.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Carne screamed.

Sanji gave a short monotone hum of agreement as an answer.

"Don't just hum at me! I'll fucking cook you like an octopus!" Patty threatened.

"You nearly cost us a powerful weapon, you Italian Spaghetti!" Carne poked a calloused finger in Sanji's direction.

 _Those insults make no sense…_ Sanji thought before sighing and finally face palming, pointing in the direction of the pirates that have boarded the 'Fin', silently giving a universal message of 'we don't have time for arguing'.

Patty and Carne glanced in the direction of the dripping pirates and nonchalantly grabbed a weapon each.

"Yeah, yeah, we get it" They grumbled before gesturing to the other chefs. "Take out the trash first."

The last comment obviously didn't sit well with the pirates as one immediately attacked. This created a chain reaction of battle cries, sound of destroyed weapons and a pained cry of someone meeting their target. However, after a few minutes most of the chefs were down, glaring defiantly back at the remaining pirates.

"In the end fighting cooks are still cooks, there's a large difference between us." One burly pirate sneered. "Go do your cooking in some kitchen on the mainland!"

"Oi, what's wrong with you guys? Why are you going down so easily?!" Patty asked franticly.

"These pirates are different! They're nothing like the ones we fought before!" a chef answered back, spitting out a mixture of blood and spit.

Sanji bit through his cigarette. They _are_ the Don Krieg pirates. These ones are at complete different level of what the chefs were used to. It didn't stop the bitter taste in his mouth that has nothing to do with his chewed death stick. That last comment the burly pirate made purposely dug into a wound shared by most of the chefs of the Baratie.

Sanji remembered. Every single chef introduced themselves the same way. A loud bang of a door slamming open and a boisterous shout that should sound threatening… except to Zeff and Sanji.

Patty tightened his grip on the giant knife in his hands. "We've been chefs for ten years, been fired by three hundred restaurants for fighting."

"Until we found this place! Here we can fight and cook as much as we want!" Carne added, proud smile on his face and slammed the jut of his weapon on the ground. "And I'll be damned if we even let you step even one foot in here!"

With that Patty and Carne swung into action, their two weapons quickly finishing of most of the pirates and also giving the other chefs some recovery time. Soon most chefs were back up while the pirates were either injured or standing far off. Sanji huffed. _About damn time._

Just as the blond chef was about join the fight himself, a splash caught Sanji's attention. Before he knew it, both Patty and Carne were flying and landed at his feet and he heard a happy cry from the pirates. Sanji glanced down at them before looking up. Standing there at the edge of the platform was a tall guy that had a…large orb on his head? What the hell is up the plate-like metal bits covering his body? The fuck?

Why are they all weirdos?

Either way this guy had a really obnoxious laugh. Sanji felt his eyebrow twitch at the obscenities spilling from the guy's mouth. Really? One of those? Those that really need to learn that it costs literally nothing to shut the fuck up? Really?

"Hey this is a nice knife, I'll take it." Sanji glanced over and noticed a pirate trying to take Patty's paring knife from his clenched fist. A click of steel shoes on wood. "Hey let go! It's not like you gonna use it again!"

"Here's something you should know." Sanji spoke, catching the attention of the pirate for a second. Note, a second.

Sanji slammed the heel of his shoe into the pirates face, the momentum of the flying pirate knocking out three other pirates. Probably also shattered his jaw too. Oops.

"A knife is a chef's soul, worthless scum like you aren't allowed to touch it." Sanji growled, catching Patty's airborne knife with careful hands.

Sanji crouched down and placed the knife into Patty's hands. Looks like that weirdo managed to break his nose. "Here Patty, I'll take care of the rest." The tightened grip on the knife's handle was all that Sanji needed.

"Ha! You? You're just some pretty boy chef!" one of the pirates laughed. "We'll take you down just like the others! Maybe even ruin that perfect little face of yours while we're at it!"

Sanji didn't answer to the taunts. He's used to people underestimating him. Instead he leaped and kicked the laughing pirate right in the face. Before any of the other pirates could react Sanji was already on his hands spinning, legs in a perfect split and giving Sanji the satisfying sound of crunching and snapping bones every time his steel shoes and enhanced legs hit a target. Soon all pirates were down and the only one left was the weird orb guy.

"Really? All of you got taken out by kick from that lanky blonde boy? What weaklings." the weirdo snorted and looked at Sanji in the eye. "What's with you? Only using your kicks? It is some policy of yours? You're even wearing gloves."

"A chef's hands are his life." Sanji answered, leg still raised ready for the next kick. Sanji could see the weirdo's eyes widen at the sight of his teeth. "He'll never use them in battle. That's why…"

Sanji kicked at the empty air, purposely showing the guy the sole of his foot. "I'll defeat you with these feet."

"Defeat me? Impossible." The weirdo boasted. "In my last sixty-one battles I have won them all COMPLETELY unharmed. I have never spilled a single drop of blood in battle. This just shows how strong I am. That's why people call me-"

As the weirdo kept rambling Sanji could feel himself drifting off. How vain can a guy get? Sanji was about ready himself to kick the guy in the face to shut him up when a flying object caught his attention. Said object completely knocked right into the weirdo's head, effectively shutting him up and Luffy landed beside Sanji with a soft tap on the ground.

"That surprised me!" The teen exclaimed, patting himself off.

"Oh no! Pearl's bleeding!" One the pirates suddenly cried out in fear. Sanji looked up and squinted. Right there, was the smallest nosebleed he's ever seen, it was even smaller than the time when Sanji knocked his head when he younger. Nevertheless, while the pirates were freaking out the chefs just stared at the huge guy in confusion.

"What's up with him?" Luffy asked, picking at his nose. "It's just a nosebleed."

Sanji felt inclined to agree but it doesn't seem to be the case for the Don Krieg Pirates. Many panicked cries were ringing out, all in vain attempt to calm down the huge guy. Sanji's gaze hardened. The guy was acting strange; his breathing was getting more erratic and his hands seems to be shaking.

"Stop it Pearl!" Kreig voice cried out. "Don't get mad over a nosebleed!"

Sanji eyes widened.

"BODILY HARM! BODILY HARM! BODILY HARM!" The weirdo started to bang the shields in his hands rapidly together, resembling a wild gorilla in rage. Sanji lifted one of his legs in caution.

Suddenly the guy burst into flames and it looked…ridiculous. The dude literally looked just like a human fireball and was doing more harm to himself than to his enemies. The weirdo –Pearl was it? – lifted his arms up, palms facing the restaurant. Sanji's eyes narrowed. There were smaller orbs in between the guy's fingers, suspiciously the perfect size for-

"FIRE PEARL! Special Flavour!"

Sanji swiftly dodged the flaming bullets and then immediately began berating himself for the consequences. Dodging the bullets meant it would hit something else and that something else was the highly flammable wood that was attached to the Baratie. _Shit!_

"Owner, watch out!" A horrified voice cried out.

Sanji relaxed at that. _Shitty Geezer can handle it. Now, to deal with the flame bastard._

Several screams of pain pounded in Sanji's head. Pirates were running around like headless chickens and even Luffy was running around, unsuccessfully trying to put out the fire on his clothes. Sanji stared the running pirate teen. _Running around like that is just going set more fire to – you know what, never mind._

Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Sanji glared at the raging fires around him. _Great, my suit's going to get dirty again, how many times is that this month? Three? Four? People honestly have no appreciation for fine tastes at all… ugh let's just get this over and done with._

With a simple crouch, Sanji once again launched himself into the air, gracefully arching his body over the flaming walls of fire, ignoring the horrified cries and swung his leg down, fully intending on breaking more of the weirdo's dumb face.

Well something did break. One of the guy's many shields. _God damnit._

The weirdo seemed rather shaken though. His eyes were wide and he looked like he was in shock, freezing and completely not moving, staring at his shattered shield in horror. Sanji landed in front of the man with a soft tap and even then the guy didn't move. Sanji tilted his head before shrugging and kicking the guy in the face.

Bastard finally snapped to attention at least, with a now even more broken nose, he rolling around slightly like a turtle with that ridiculous protective outfit of his. After a few stumbles the guy finally stood up.

"W-what the hell is wrong with this cook? How is he not afraid of my flames?" The Pearl guy asked, holding his no profusely bleeding nose.

"Idiot, how can I call myself a chef if I'm afraid of fire?" Sanji asked rhetorically, holding out his cigarette. "Thanks for the light, by the way."

"Argh what an annoying guy!" The Pearl bastard exclaimed. "Why are you so persistent?!"

Sanji didn't answer. There was a much larger problem that had his attention. A problem that was an extremely large spikey most-likely-iron-ball that was hurtling towards the restaurant and…him. Shit.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit,_ was the mantra in Sanji's head as he assessed whether he can kick back the ball or not. Obviously he can't, not be himself at least, maybe he can kick the Pearl Bastard into the ball to…

"Hot! Hot!" A familiar voice cried out beside Sanji, who was much too distracted with piecing a two second plan in his head to notice new company.

With a shout, Luffy jumped up, his rubber arms stretched back. "Gomu-Gomu no Bazooka!"

With his rubber arms stretched taut, Luffy's arms snapped forward and with his bare hands, hit the impeding spiked doom dead in the centre, sending the giant monstrosity back to where it flew from.

 _He shot that spiked ball back with his bare hands?_ Sanji watched in awe. The ball flew across the floating debris and crashed into a mast next to Krieg. Seeing the impending doom, Sanji and Luffy quickly sidestepped out of the way. Pearl didn't. He took the full blunt of the force, the mast landing with a healthy sounding gong on the man's dumb orb hat. The man slumped over, defeated.

"That guy's an idiot." Luffy stated the obvious, staring at the twitching unconscious form of the previously so called 'Iron Wall Pearl'.

Sanji flicked away a now spent cigarette and shrugged. _Eh, the guy managed to soften the landing of the mast that could have destroyed more of the Baratie, so whatever. Plus, he's finally quiet._

A familiar grunt pricked at Sanji's ears. The blonde chef turned around slowly and was greeted with the site of Gin holding a menacingly large double pistol at the Geezer's head, foot pressing the old chef down to the ground. Sanji's face went blank.

Sanji took out his Zippo and a fresh cigarette. A small snap. A deep breath. An exhale of cloudy smoke.

"This should end everything right?" Gin asked, quiet voice ringing clearly in Sanji's head.

* * *

 **Oooh cliffhanger! Hahaha (please don't hurt me)**

 **As answer to last chapter's quiz! Drumroll please…**

 **Ping-Pong! The correct answer was:**

Ma Chaton – My Kitten

 **Congratulations to those who got it right! To the others, great job guessing! I hope you had fun with this guessing game!**

 **The reason why Sanji calls Nami my kitten, if you recall the first chapter whenever the other chefs had questioned where he was he always answered that he met a little cat, hence officially nicknaming Nami, My Kitten. I thought it was quite a suited nickname with Cat Burglar Nami but that's just me and my logic.**

 **Also, even though Oda came up with the names in the first place, there's no way in hell that it wasn't little ten-year-old Sanji that named the Baratie weapons and features because he did. Like come on! The freaking little fish-boat's name literally means** _ **Mackerel Head.**_

 **Till next time!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


	6. Chapter 6

**Gills chap 6**

 **Yay, an update! Thank you for your support and reviews to ma story! *starts crying ugly tears and snot* I d-don't deserve such wonderful people! *cries even more***

… **I don't really have anything else to say other than sorry for being an ass who doesn't update enough.** **Also please don't hurt me.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own- oh you get the idea, I own nothing. NOTHING ya hear me?!**

* * *

" _This should end everything right?" Gin asked, quiet voice ringing clearly in Sanji's head._

Sanji stared coolly back at Gin, puffing away at a cigarette.

"Even if he was a great pirate, now he's only an ordinary chef. Blasting his head off will be simple." Gin stated, poking the gun forcefully into Zeff's head, further proving his point. A bead of sweat trailed its way down the pirate's cheek. "You don't want to see him get hurt right, Sanji-san?"

Gin lifted his head with pleading eyes that only Sanji saw. "Please, just listen to me and get off this ship. That way no one will get hurt."

Sanji tilted his head back and sighed out swirls of smoke, feeling tendrils of fire licking at his feet and legs as the chef stared at the blue sky above him. Feeling Gin's anxious eyes on him, waiting for the chef's next move. Sanji snapped his head forward and locked his eye dead on his _target_.

"DROP DEAD." Sanji hissed and disappeared without a trace. Gin started and looked around frantically, gun temporarily leaving Zeff's head. Luffy blinked. Dark eyes of a predator shined behind Gin. _Chance._

Gin felt a shiver run down his back, jerking out of the way as Sanji's foot slammed down. Narrowly missing getting a smashed skull, Gin jumped as far away from the impending danger as possible, with wide eyes and a racing heart, losing his hold on Zeff.

Gin's heart was racing as his fellow crewmates stared at him curiously. He gulped and turned. Black soulless eyes stared at him hungrily, oozing out murderous intent. Gin was suddenly bought back to the seventh day of travelling the Grandline, he couldn't move, he could only stare back, helpless. A prey that was trapped by a predator. That undeniable shock of fear. _Those eyes._ However, as it soon as came, the eyes turned back into the normal strange humanlike eye of a shark that belonged to a half- _human_. Same blank look with only a hint of curiosity and wariness. However, the black eyes from before will haunt Gin for the rest of his life.

Sanji stood silently beside Zeff, as the old man picked himself up, eyes shadowed by a curtain of gold. Zeff didn't say anything, only grunting and picking himself up.

"Finally acting like your age, Old Geezer?" Sanji asked, breathing out toxic smoke.

"The one who should be acting my age is you with how much you smoke." Zeff grumbled straightening his hat, "Eggplant. The floor."

 _Ah._ Sanji looked down at the sizzling burn marks on the wooden floor with dismay. _God damnit._

"Oi, Gin." Krieg growled out. "What the hell was that? Why didn't you kill Red Leg Zeff?"

"D-Don Krieg… I-" Gin stammered.

"GIN!"

Said man visibly tensed at the livid scream of his name. Gin's heartbeat rate was slowly going down as he turned to face the furious black haired teen.

"What the hell?!" Luffy screamed, fury flashing brilliantly in brown eyes. What normally was a happy childish face is now contorted in an angry snarl. "Sanji saved you! What are you doing?!"

Gin didn't even get to open his mouth when someone else answered for him.

"What is he doing?" Don Krieg asked rhetorically, throwing his head back and laughing. "Being a Don Krieg Pirate of course! He's my right hand man! Between his captain and some measly freak of nature chef it's obvious who he'll choose!"

Sanji spared a glance at Gin. The man seems to collected himself again and was now calmly standing in an upright position. Sanji frowned. That composure…

Sanji glanced at the fallen double pistol gun at his feet. With a look of distaste, the young chef easily kicked it between the railings of the ship, the gun falling uselessly into the ocean. Oh he knew what pirates like Gin were like alright. Some weird twisted form of absolute loyalty to their captain no matter how degrading the captain may be. Many formed from fear, resentment, pain; hateful feelings. But those feelings are powerful, over time those feelings will only grow stronger, more passionate. Sanji knew many people who were good example of this. He could never really understand them either.

Sanji suddenly felt movement beside him and jolted. He quickly pushed Zeff out of the way, taking the blow, and flew across the deck, giving a grunt of pain when he slammed into the wall.

"Sanji!" the chefs and Luffy cried out. Zeff aimed a healthy glare at the bastard pearl man that had initiated the attack.

 _Fuck, I thought that guy was out. I was careless._ Sanji coughed and spat out blood and several teeth, wincing when he felt the definite twinge of a broken rib. Several of them. _Fuck._

"Your turn old man!" Pearl laughed manically and swung down a shield covered fist at the old chef's head.

"Owner!" Several chefs cried out.

 _Shit, Zeff…!_ Sanji struggled to stand up. _Move old man!_

"DIE!" Pearl screamed.

Zeff stared unblinking at the large man. With the shield only millimetres away from the already crooked nose, Zeff gave a slight shift in weight as he dropped down and slammed his good leg into the pearl man's stomach. It created a spectacular gong and cough of blood to erupt from the man's mouth.

"Pearl-san!" the group of pirates cried out in shock.

"Uwooo! How strong is that old man?!" Luffy exclaimed, incredibly impressed.

Sanji gave a small sigh. _Geez._

"Shitty brats making an old man do all this work." Zeff grumbled, straightening and cracking his back. "I don't have the time nor energy."

"So you finally admitted that you're getting old are ya, Shitty Geezer? Why not make me head chef already?" Sanji called out.

"Shut your mouth Shitty Eggplant, I've already told you your never gonna be head chef under my watch, not for another 100 years!" Zeff scoffed, kicking the defeated 'Iron Wall Pearl' into a group of pirates, knocking them down along with the unconscious man.

"And I've always told you I would live a 1000!" Sanji called back, picking himself up and made his way back onto the battlefield. "You're not getting rid of me Shitty Geezer, not for a long time!"

"I've had enough!" Krieg suddenly screamed, catching everyone's attention. "Everyone, go take down those useless chefs and take the ship already!"

"…Did he finally lose his temper?" Luffy wondered, completely ignoring the group of pirates running at him.

"You mean he hasn't already?" Sanji asked rhetorically, lighting another cigarette.

Before Sanji could even shift his weight a sudden blur ran in between the two young men. Sanji stared in shock as Gin knocked out around half of the rampaging group of pirates with only a strange metal weapon. The second half of the pirates froze in shock staring in disbelief that one of their own began attacking them. Krieg was seething from his spot on a broken debris, watching the scene unfold.

"Gin, are you betraying me?" Krieg growled menacingly. The whole place was silent waiting for Gin's answer, the whole place seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for the answer that will determine what hell is going to break loose.

"Forgive me Don Krieg but this man saved not only mine but your life as well. I owe more than my life to him. Seeing him die like this doesn't sit right with me. That's why…" Gin spoke clearly, eyes shadowed. Slowly the man lifted one of his metal weapons and pointed it directly at Sanji. The blond man only placed his cigarette back in his mouth at the threat. "May I request that I can kill this man myself?"

Sanji twitched. Gin turned his attention to the half-fishman.

"I wanted you leave unharmed, giving this ship to us was the easiest way… but that's not happening is it?" Gin asked, resigned.

"Hell no." Sanji snorted. "Even if you do get the ship by killing me, be sure to know that my spirit will still haunt you all for the rest of your lives and be ready to drag you all to Hell when you die."

"I see." Gin said. "Then I'm sorry Sanji-san. Looks like you're going to be haunting for a while."

"Good to know." Sanji replied. "Eat shit."

Sanji bore his eyes into Gin's but the man was looking anywhere but Sanji's own eyes. The half shark gave up and gave an unimpressed huff. Krieg was already smirking horribly.

"I see. Very well. Go show what the battling commander of the Don Krieg pirates can do." Krieg ordered.

 _Commander?_ Sanji observed the lanky body, not unlike his own. _Hm._

"So you're actually strong?" Luffy asked Gin curiously.

"What do you mean is he 'actually strong'?! Don't underestimate our commander! We're the Don Krieg pirates!" The still conscious group of pirates shouted in outrage.

"Yeah, so?" Luffy asked disinterestedly and picked his nose. Sanji gave him a light kick for that, grimacing slightly. Who still picks their nose? Gross.

"Do you know anything?! We're strongest pirates of East Blue!" the pirates screamed.

"Don't you mean the one with the most people?" Luffy stated impassively. That statement silenced the noisy men effectively, leaving them to only be able to fume silently like a dam about to burst.

"Looks like you hit them where it hurts." Sanji observed.

"Yup." Luffy agreed.

Immediately the pirates erupted in an angry outburst as they charged aimlessly at the passive aggressive duo.

"Stop."

At this the pirates were silenced once more as they stared at their captain in disbelief and opening their mouth in protest.

"When a man gets flustered when he's being called weak, it's proof that he recognizes that he is weak." Krieg stated calmly, sitting down with a mighty thump. "Let the outcome determine the weak and strong."

Krieg glared at his crew. "I'm still here. So stop making a fuss."

"A-Aye!" The crew answered back.

"Gin, you take out the cook." Krieg grinned maliciously. "Leave that brat to me."

"Understood, Don Krieg." Gin answered back and began spinning the strange weapon in hands, the weapon slowly emitting a strange whistling sound as it spun even faster.

Sanji gave out a smoke filled sigh and stared emotionlessly at the man in front of him. While Luffy was mocking Don Krieg, Sanji tapped his shoes experimentally and Gin shifted his weight.

Gin was first to move, surprising Sanji slightly with how fast the man was but the lean blonde was quick to counterattack, blocking the incoming steel ball to his head with his leg. Quickly cartwheeling away Sanji didn't take into account of how fast the other's man's recovery reflex was. A horrible mistake.

Sanji coughed up a mouthful of blood as Gin slammed his other weapon into Sanji's chest where he's taken the most damage. Several more broken ribs. It's getting difficult to breathe.

Gin slammed the bar of the weapon onto Sanji's neck, cutting off the oxygen into the chef's lungs, forcing the man down and trapping him. Sanji glared at the pirate. In this position, unless he could detach his head, Sanji was vulnerable.

"That's our battle commander for you." One of the small fry pirates muttered. "No matter how much his opponent pleaded for mercy he could always kill him without hesitation. A Devil-man. A man with no feelings."

Sanji's ears perked at that description of the man. The half fishman twitched slightly when he caught the look on Gin's face, hiding from everyone else but him, the man looked like he was… in pain. Sanji blew out the nicotine induced smoke through his nose calmly.

Gin smirked.

"Farewell." Gin said and swung his weapon, aiming for Sanji's head, ready to smash the man's skull in.

Sanji spat out his cigarette into Gin's face, blinding the man temporarily when the ashes got in his eyes. Sanji quickly swung himself up into a hand stand and slammed his foot down onto Gin's head, the power behind the kick forced the pirate to rebound his head off the ground painfully.

"What is this? Pity? Or mercy?" Sanji hissed out angrily.

Sanji attack wasn't enough to stop Gin. Sanji knew that very well, however his realisation was too late and was in no position to avoid it. He waited for the coming blow, gritting his teeth when it came. Both fell down with a pained grunt.

"Gin-san!" The pirates cried out in horror.

"Sanji!" One of the chef's cried out.

Sanji spat out another tooth and struggled to get up. _Not enough…_

Sanji shouted in pain. Gin has already recovered and was now knocking him around like a rag doll. _1… 2… 3… 4…_

It wasn't until around the 8th hit Gin Sanji finally managed to counterattack and smacked his fot across the other's man's face. Sanji jumped away and glared at Gin. The pirate only smiled back and licked away the blood dribbling from his mouth.

Sanji need recovery time. The chef coughed and wheezed and assessed the terrible situation he was in. _Damnit… can't gather the strength…_

"Stop this already!" Sanji looked up, one of the newer recruits seemed to have snapped. "Why are you doing this to yourself?! You're going to die at this rate!"

Sanji went silent. Flashes of _that_ time appeared unwilling in the forefront of Sanji's mind. A stormy night. A raid from pirates. An insolent brat. The Rock. No food. Missing leg. The hollowness. The kindness. _All Bl…_

"Why?" Sanji asked rhetorically and began to scream. "Because this restaurant is that Old Fart's dream! He gave everything up for me! His freedom, his reputation, his power, his own god damn leg! The least I could do is protect his dream!"

Sanji cut himself off as he started to cough up more blood violently. Not from his injuries but from the misuse of his voice. His voice was horribly cracked, raising the volume had ripped his weak vocal chords that have rarely been used. More blood began to dribble from his mouth, creating small waterfalls of red down pale skin. However, Sanji wasn't finished.

"That shitty old man placed his life on the line to save mine!" Sanji continued to scream, blood and spittle flying out of his mouth along with his words, his warbled screams the only thing in the utter silence. "If I don't place my own life on the line how can I ever repay the old fart?!"

"Gomu Gomu no…" A familiar shout rang out into the shocked silence. Sanji looked up and stared with wide eyes when he saw the stretched up leg. A quick estimate made Sanji realise with outrage what the target was. _Stop!_

"Axe!" Luffy screamed furiously and his stretched leg flew down at an alarming speed. Sanji and Gin fell back down at the impact as a column of water shot up, differing with staring in anger or in shock at the young pirate captain.

As the waves dissipated Sanji looked around him. The kick from the that bastard waiter boy had managed to completely demolish the Fin. The only thing remained of the deck were broken floating parts of the deck.

Sanji made his way over and bunched the teen's shirt into his fist.

"What the hell do you think you're doing to this ship?!" Sanji croaked out furiously.

"Sink it." Luffy replied. "I'm sinking it."

"What?!" Sanji was dumb folded at the unexpected straightforward answer.

"If I destroy this ship they can't get what they want." Luffy replied, gesturing to the pirates as if trying to further prove his point. Immediately screams of outrage and anger rang out at the dumb solution.

"Don't you know the immense amount of debt I have for this place?!" Sanji exclaimed along with the shouts.

"So you going to die for it?" Luffy asked, annoyed. "Are you stupid?"

Luffy slapped Sanji's hand off his shirt and shouted in the blonde's face. "Dying isn't paying him back!"

"He placed his life on the line to save yours!" Luffy gave a small huff at the irony. "Throwing away the life that he saved isn't paying him back! Doing that is only something that a weak person would do!"

"What makes you thinking I'm throwing my life away?!" Sanji asked angrily. "I'm just placing my life on the line like the Old Fart! What else do you suggest?!

"Not to die." Luffy answered back in a matter of fact tone.

 _Why this bastard…_ Sanji fumed, feeling a vein pop. Spotting Gin reminded him he still has a fight. _Ugh I don't have time for this…_

With that Sanji quickly pushed Luffy out of the way and ran towards a frozen Gin, giving a rather painful surprise of kicking the man once again in the head. Sanji clenched his teeth in pain and swung his other leg down giving double hit to the still recovering man.

Gin fell down with a pained grunt but Sanji was worse off. He couldn't hear anything, only registering pain. It felt like he's broken every single rib and more. Sanji gasped against the pounding in his head as he struggled to stand up again. Halfway into a crouch he started coughing, the force behind it caused him to fall down again, spitting out blood and teeth.

 _Fuck I can't go on like this… I need to think of something otherwi-_

"ARGH!" Sanji screamed out when a blunt weapon once again smashed against his battered ribs. Rolling along what's left of the Fin, Sanji ended up on his back panting, trying to subside the pain. Sanji cracked opened his scrunched up eyes and glared up at Gin. The man was now towering above him, legs and feet locking the blond man in place with his weapons looming above Sanji, the bar of one of the pirate's weapon pressed onto Sanji's neck, keeping him down.

Already Sanji was thinking of solutions of escaping, however all solutions included him to be in better shape than having every single rib broken. He could scream and spit but with his battered body all scenarios end with his skull and brain splattered across the broken Fin and the already blood soaked weapon hanging above him. He was completely trapped.

Krieg was laughing horribly. The sound was grating against Sanji's ears.

"Good job Gin! Finish him off!" Krieg ordered. Gin hesitated and stared down at Sanji with an indescribable emotion.

"B-but Don Krieg, this man saved our lives, the owner of the restaurant saved our men…" Gin spoke, on the verge of pleading.

"Now!" Krieg roared furiously.

Sanji saw the pirate's grip on his weapon tighten and stared curiously up at Gin. Sanji's eye stared into the other man's darker ones and raised an eyebrow in a silent question. _Well? Do it._

Gin slowly raised his weapon, getting ready to swing, eyes shadowed. The blunt weapon was frozen in the air, a swing from that height would kill Sanji instantly but Gin didn't move. Not even an inch.

Clear liquid began to splatter on the dark wood and Sanji stared up with wide eyes.

Gin was crying. The salty liquid falling down in rivulets, mixing with the blood as Gin lowered his weapon harmlessly to the ground.

"Don Krieg!" Gin cried out, Sanji still staring up at the man in shock. "I have carried out every single one of your orders, I was so happy when you made me your battle commander. I'm going against everything my position wants me to be, but…"

Gin screamed into the sky. "I'm sorry but I just cannot kill this man!"

Kreig was silent as Gin continued his crying.

"This man saved our lives! He… he… was the first person to treat me with nothing but kindness." Gin started quietening down, tears starting to drip onto Sanji as well. Sanji didn't notice but he was staring up at Gin with mixed emotions, remembering the absolute gratitude the man had showed him.

"I'm sorry to request this but please… can we just leave this restaurant be?" Gin pleaded.

Krieg face morphed into complete anger.

"ARE YOU MOCKING ME?!" Krieg roared out furiously, shocking Gin. "First you refuse a direct order from me and now you're telling me what to do? Don't patronize me!"

Kreig lifted a huge golden shield, aiming towards the restaurant. A faint whirring was heard and the Jolly Roger decorating the shield opened its mouth, revealing a small canon hiding within the metal confines.

"Everyone step back." Kreig informed his crew, his subordinates looking up from their stupefied silence of Gin's outburst. "I'm going to use MH5."

Screams ripped themselves out of the pirates' mouths as they scrambled around franticly. Sanji stared at them in suspicion. All were panicking, some even having the nerve of cursing their own captain out. Sanji stared as all of the pirates bought out a gas mask. _What…?_

Gin was shocked.

"Don Krieg! Are you seriously going to use the poisonous gas?" Gin cried out desperately.

"Poison?!" The chefs cried out in shock. Immediately all began swimming away, Patty and Carne dragged Zeff inside the restaurant. Sanji stared in slight horrified silence. _Po_ _ison gas... moth..._

Gin slowly slipped out his own mask from his jacket.

"Gin, throw away your mask." Krieg ordered calmly and stared at his subordinate with disdain. "You're no longer one of mine anymore."

Gin froze. Luffy glared at the pirate captain with terrifying eyes.

"Bullshit! Gin don't listen to him!" Sanji cried out, not believing his own ears at the ridiculous order.

"…I have already betrayed my only objective as a member of the Don Krieg Pirates." Gin spoke quietly. "I showed my emotions, I couldn't kill a man so…"

Gin threw his mask into the ocean, shocking Sanji. "I need to accept the consequences of my actions!"

"You idiot!" Sanji shouted, staring in horror at the triumphant grin on Krieg's face. "Why are you doing this?!"

Sanji gazed into Gin's eyes. They looked defeated, tired, red from crying but there was one emotion that silenced Sanji.

They were filled with determination.

"Like hell I'm going to let you shoot that gas!" Luffy screamed and ran along the fallen mast towards Krieg with a war cry. The pirate only gave an unimpressed twitch of his eyebrow before another clunk was heard and thousands of sharp miniature missiles launched themselves at Luffy. The straw hat wearing teen skidded to a stop, making small sounds of frantic surprise, running back to safety.

Luffy glared at the smirking metal clad man.

"What the hell is wrong with man? Using poison of all things." A chef muttered in horror. "That's just not human!"

Kreig smirked. "Anything is acceptable as long as you win."

"Poison gas." Krieg readied his own mask. "MH5!"

The missile was launched.

Luffy stretched out his arms and snatched two gas masks from two horrified pirates. "I'm borrowing these."

"Oi! Sanji! Gin!" Luffy cried out, throwing the two masks towards them. "Catch!"

"Now for mi- Ah! THEY'VE ALL SUBMERGED!" Luffy cried out franticly. Noticing the missile closing in he began to panic. "ARRGH! WHAT DO I DO?! WHAT DO I DO?!"

Sanji stared with wide eyes as Gin quickly threw the newly given mask towards Luffy, with only one remaining. Sanji's eyes narrowed when he realised what the man was going to do. _Idiot!_

 _If only breathing the gas would be lethal then…_ Sanji quickly snatched the remaining mask and smashed it into Gin's face, ignoring the strangled garble. He looked over at the rubber man hurriedly putting on the mask Gin threw away and quickly executed his 2 second plan.

"Oi, Waiter Boy!" Sanji cried out, catching the attention of Luffy. "Think fast!"

With that Sanji threw Gin towards Luffy, ignoring the pain that was caused by that simple action. Whether the idiot was caught or not Sanji didn't find out as he quickly dove into the ocean, just as the deadly gas missile explodes like some horrid firework of mass homicide miasma.

Sanji sighed as he switched to gills, welcoming the cool waters as it washed off the blood. After a few seconds Sanji gave out a long well deserved scream at how stupid humans of the world can be. Is simple quick thinking no longer a thing or is knowing information was no longer important for battle? He did not know how much of a smack in the face people needed to show that he isn't completely human. He has _gills_. He can breathe perfectly well underwater where the _poison can't reach._

Sanji looked up and noted with satisfaction when his assumption was proven correct. Looks like the gas could only spread in the air and not seep into the water. However just to be sure Sanji swam towards where the other chefs were, with clean air.

"Sanji!" The chefs cried out in surprise when he submerged from the sea. Sanji held up a hand, silencing any questions the other chefs had.

"Not now." Sanji muttered softly. The chefs complied and remained silent as the youngest member of the Baratie watched the clearing gas with a calculated gaze. Sanji stared as an unlucky seagull fell to its death, landing lifelessly in the water. A few minutes of silence passed as the last of the gas evaporated into the air.

Sanji dove underwater once again, not even sparing a glance at the other chefs and swam back towards where Luffy and Gin were. He emgerged from the ocean and heaved himself up onto the broken deck. Sanji was satisfied to see Luffy firmly securing the gas mask onto a struggling Gin.

Luffy slowly removed the mask from his face cautiously. Once he was sure the last of the poison was gone he gave a sigh of relief.

"I thought I was going to die." Luffy breathed out, also releasing the mask from Gin's face.

The man moved himself into a crouch and bit his bottom lip. Feeling a weight on his back Gin snapped his head up, looking at a furious Sanji, tears falling relentlessly down the pirate's face.

"I'm… I'm sorry, Sanji-san" Gin choked out. "I never wanted this to happen."

Sanji stayed silent, leaving his hand on the shaking pirate's back and stared hatefully at the scowling pirate captain scum.

"It's fine Gin." Sanji breathed out, golden fringe shadowing his eyes. Sanji locked his eyes onto Krieg. Eerie black and blue eyes showed the clear promise that someone will die.

"You just chose the wrong person to follow."

* * *

 **You know, rewatching some old day One Piece episodes made me remember how Sanji and Luffy made the best savage team XD**

 **Like majority of the time they were talking were throwing casual insults at the enemy and it was amazing.**

 **That one single quote by Krieg talking about being called weak? I think that's the only thing him and I can agree on. Don't answer back to people talking trash about you. Don't give them the satisfaction of seeing you angry, instead you can prove them wrong and kill them with kindness or be very passive aggressive like Sanji and Luffy :D**

… **also rewatching the old episodes make me want to cry because Gin's life seems like what Sanji's was until Zeff came along TT^TT**

 **Till next time!**

 **-Kagu-chan**


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